InuYasha: Future Nightmare
by Aynslesa
Summary: After a hard day of shikon searching, Kagome finally gets some well-deserved rest -- only to wake up 20 years into the future! COMPLETE!
1. The Jewel of Hell

**Inu-Yasha: Future Nightmare**

_Turn it inside out so I can see_

_The part of you that's drifting over me_

_When I wake you're, you're never there_

_And when I sleep you're, you're everywhere_

_You're everywhere_

_Just tell me how I got this far_

_Just tell me why you're here and who you are_

_'Cause every time I look you're never there_

_And every time I see you're always there_

_'Cause you're everywhere to me _

_And when I close my eyes it's you I see_

_You're everything I know that makes me believe_

_I'm not alone_

_I'm not alone_

_I recognize the way you make me feel_

_It's hard to think that you might not be real_

_I sense it now, the water's getting deep_

_I try to wash the pain away from me_

_Away from me_

_'Cause you're everywhere to me _

_And when I close my eyes it's you I see_

_You're everything I know that makes me believe_

_I'm not alone_

_I'm not alone_

_I wanna touch your hand_

_It's that I understand_

_The beauty that's within_

_It's now that we begin_

_You always like my way_

_There never comes a day_

_No matter where I go_

_I always feel you so_

_'Cause you're everywhere to me _

_And when I close my eyes it's you I see_

_You're everything I know that makes me believe_

_I'm not alone_

_I'm not alone_

_'Cause you're everywhere to me_

_And when I catch my breath it's you I breathe_

_You're everything I know that makes me believe_

_I'm not alone_

_You're in everyone I see_

_So tell me, do you see me? _

_                  -- 'Everywhere' © Michelle Branch_

**Chapter One: The Jewel of Hell**

The Shikon no Tama. 

A mysterious jewel, with untold power. It was said to have been the heart of the first miko, and that within the jewel itself battled the souls of the miko and several demonic youkai. 

Fact and history shows that any living creature – youkai, human, or otherwise – could enhance their abilities by having the Shikon no Tama. Legend said that whoever possessed the Shikon no Tama could use it to make a wish, but only one wish could be used for the jewel. 

The Shikon no Tama had been entrusted to a village of youkai exterminators, who had in turn entrusted it to a young miko by the name of Kikyou, in hopes of purifying the jewel, which some were already secretly referring to as the Jewel of Hell. Most who did had been negatively affected by the jewel's power. 

This name was never public knowledge. 

Kikyou accepted the Shikon no Tama to purify it. When she died, the jewel was burned with her body. 

50 years later, it appeared again, along with a mysterious girl who bore a strong resemblance to the long-dead miko. 

Fact and history depicts this girl as the reincarnated Kikyou, now named Kagome Higurashi. Legend said that she came from a future time through the infamous Bone-eaters Well. Coinciding with her appearance, the Shikon no Tama broke into several thousand pieces, which were then spread around the world. 

The power of wishing was lost with the jewel broken, but a single shard could still enhance the abilities of the one who possessed it ten-fold. The stronger ones often had more than one shard. Corrupted humans, demonic youkai, and others with dark thoughts fell to the negative aspects of the shards, and were usually consumed by the darkness. Most of these were dispatched by a small group of travelers, who's names have been lost to history. Rumors say that the maiden Kagome was one of these travelers. Historians have yet to agree that any such person even existed at all. 

There was one person, however, who was obsessed with locating all the shards, and pursued everyone who had them with relentless destruction. 

His name was Naraku. That is all that is known about him. 

History fades at that point, never depicting the fate of the Shikon no Tama. Most of the stories fade away into just that – stories. Fairy tales to tell children before they go to bed. Legends of unlikely heroes. 

A young hanyou determined to make a place for him in the world. 

A born-again miko fighting to escape from the shadow of her former self. 

A cursed monk with a vendetta and a hope for salvation. 

An orphaned kitsune who feared being left alone. 

A youkai exterminator, last of the tribe that guarded the Shikon no Tama. 

A wolf-youkai prince secretly searching for love.

An inu-youkai struggling between purity and darkness. 

The last of an endangered breed with her own vendetta against hell. 

A mixed-youkai, raised by humans with no knowledge of her abilities.   

The legends of the hanyou Inu-Yasha and those whose lives he touched became the favorites of many children. 

But like all great legends, they fade away. 

The interesting thing about legends, though, is that they usually have a basis in fact. 

Everyone agrees that the Shikon no Tama existed, but no one knows it's fate. The legends of the hanyou and the born-again miko often coincide with the Shikon no Tama accounts. 

It is several years before the Shikon no Tama resurfaces, and the name 'Jewel of Hell' arrives along with it. For it rose from hell, and brought forth hell.


	2. Before the Future

**Inu-Yasha: Future Nightmare**

**Chapter 2: Before the Future**

"Inu-Yasha! The shikon shard is in its neck!" 

The white-haired hanyou heard Kagome's shout, and tightened his grip on Tetsuaiga. He dodged one of the youkai's flailing tentacles and prepared to slice its neck into pieces. He took careful aim…

"Not that neck! The _other neck!" _

_Other neck?! "What other neck?!" Inu-Yasha shouted over his shoulder. _

"BEHIND YOU!" 

He spun around and saw that, indeed, this youkai had two heads. He'd been so intent on fighting one of them that he hadn't even noticed it grow the second head. Cursing loudly, he barely managed to get out of the way before the second head launched itself at him. 

Inu-Yasha growled and focused on the youkai, gauging its weaknesses and searching for the Wound of the Wind. 

There!

Gripping Tetsuaiga, he slashed out at the youkai, releasing the power within the sword. The energy slashed into the youkai, cutting it neatly in half. The half with the shikon shard disintegrated, and the glowing object fell to the ground. Inu-Yasha smirked. "Bastard," he said. "Dead bastard, now. Trying to eat me wasn't your smartest move!" 

Something moved. 

"Inu-Yasha, move!" From seemingly out of nowhere, Miroku pushed Inu-Yasha out of the way, causing the hanyou to nearly impale himself on his sword. Inu-Yasha regained his footing and turned just in time to see that the second part of the youkai was, for some reason , not dead. 

"Damn it!" snarled Inu-Yasha. This part still had all of its tentacles in tact, and they were whipping around like mad. Miroku grabbed his arm and tugged on it. 

"Come on, we need to get out of here," he said, practically dragging Inu-Yasha towards Kagome, Sango, Shippou, and Kirara. "That thing is out of control!" 

Inu-Yasha nodded, and sheathed Tetsuaiga. "Let's go." 

"What about the Shikon Shard?" Kagome asked, narrowing her eyes at him. "And that thing will destroy this entire area! There are at least three helpless villages surrounding this forest! It'll kill them all if it gets that shard back!" When Inu-Yasha made no move to do anything, Kagome grabbed her bow and quiver and took of towards the youkai. 

"What?!" Inu-Yasha practically shrieked. "Stupid girl, get back here! You'll only get yourself killed!" _Kagome, what are you doing?!_

Getting the shard, apparently. She somehow managed to stay clear of the youkai's tentacles long enough to grab the shard. For a minute, it looked like she'd be able to make it…

The tentacles slammed down around her, whipping fast. The youkai roared in delight, having caught one of its intended targets. 

"_KAGOME!" Inu-Yasha, Sango, Shippou, and Miroku shouted in unison as they watched their friend disappear among the tangled mass. _

"Hey, dogface, do something!" Shippou snapped at Inu-Yasha. "Use that sword of yours!" 

"I might miss and hurt Kagome!" snarled Inu-Yasha. "Sango, can you do anything?" 

The youkai exterminator shook her head. "It's moving to fast." 

Miroku looked grim. "Then it's my turn. I need the two of you to be ready to grab Kagome in case I can't get it closed fast enough. Can you two do that?"

Sango and Inu-Yasha looked at each other, and nodded. 

"Good." Miroku clenched his fist, and shouted at the youkai, "Hey! Over here! You want a human to chew on, I'm right here!" 

The youkai, who wasn't very smart, turned towards him. The tentacles moved away from Kagome. Sango and Inu-Yasha tensed in anticipation. 

Miroku yanked the prayer beads away from his hand and opened his fist, releasing the Air Void. The massive black hole grabbed the youkai and dragged it at lightning fast speed into it. Pain lanced through Miroku's arm – the youkai was bigger and taking longer than he had expected, and it was hurting. 

The tentacles were the last to go, and there lied the problem. One of them was wrapping tightly around Kagome! "SHIT!" roared Inu-Yasha. He unsheathed Tetsuaiga and launched himself forward. Miroku saw this, but could do nothing now that the youkai was on its way in. _Stupid, he cursed. __Of course there was a possibility it had a hold on her! _

Kagome could feel the pull of the Air Void, and closed her eyes. _Please let it be quick, she thought. __Don't feel bad, Miroku – it's not your fault._

And then she was on the ground, still wrapped in the tentacle, and the Air Void was gone. 

She opened her eyes and looked around. 

Miroku was several feet away, rewrapping his hand and looking grim, as if silently lecturing himself. Just a foot away from her, Inu-Yasha was wiping Tetsuaiga's blade on the grass to get the black blood off of it. He was used the sword to slice through the tentacle, and Miroku had closed the Air Void just in time. 

"Inu-Yasha," Kagome said softly.

Inu-Yasha looked at her, the expression in his golden eyes unreadable. "Feh. Stupid girl. What did you think you were doing, anyway?"

"Getting the Shikon Shard you wanted so much," she snapped, ruffled by the tone in his voice. Why didn't he always have to be such a jerk? It wasn't like she had intended this to happen. The shard hadn't looked _that far away to her. She sat up and winced. _

"Are you okay, Kagome-chan?" Sango asked, kneeling beside her. Shippou was on the other side, already fussing over her. 

"Just a few cuts," replied Kagome. "Those tentacles were sharp."

"Here." Sango tore a piece of her sleeve off and wrapped it around Kagome's upper arm, where most of the cuts were located. 

"Thanks, Sango-chan," Kagome said as Sango helped her up. 

"Are you sure you're okay, Kagome?" Shippou asked worriedly.

Kagome smiled down at the young kitsune. "I'm fine, Shippou. No need to worry." She held up the Shikon shard. "See? I even kept the shard safe." 

Miroku joined them, and bowed his head to Kagome apologetically. "Forgive me, Kagome-sama. It would seem that my curse very nearly ended up being the end of you." 

"I thought you said you could keep it controlled, Houshi," snapped Sango.

Kagome shook her head, and smiled at Miroku. "It's all right. It all worked out I the end, and no one got hurt. Right, Inu-Yasha?" She blinked. "Hey! Inu-Yasha!" 

Inu-Yasha was already walking back towards the village that had promised to pay them if they got rid of the youkai in the forest. "What?" he asked, not stopping. "Are you coming? Slowpokes." 

Kagome growled softly. "Baka," she muttered. But she shouldered her bow and followed him anyway, Miroku, Sango, Kirara, and Shippou right behind her. 

Later that night, Kagome crept quietly into her house. She had a final exam the next day, and really didn't want her grandfather to come up with some wild excuse to get her out of it. At least exams were almost over, this time, anyway. She had a short vacation coming up, and planned on spending most of it in Feudal Japan. To do that, she had to finish up some things in her own time, first. 

Despite the words of assurance that she had given Sango and Shippou, those cuts from those tentacles really did hurt. She couldn't help worrying that they might have been poisonous, and that was why the cuts, however shallow stung so much. To take away some of the pain, Kagome swallowed a couple Tylenol pills and then got dressed for sleep. 

"Kagome?" 

Kagome looked at her door to see her brother, Sota, standing there sleepily. "Shouldn't you be sleeping?" she asked. 

"It's almost midnight," Sota said. "What are you doing here?"

"Getting ready to sleep," replied Kagome. "I have school tomorrow. So do you. Why are you so surprised that I'm here?"

"It's so late, Grandfather figured you'd be in the other time," answered Sota. "He already contacted your school to say you'd be absent tomorrow, so you don't have to go."

Kagome groaned and rested her forehead on her fingertips. "_Grand-fa-ther!" she whined. "I actually __wanted to go to school tomorrow!" _

"You're strange, Kagome," Sota said, shaking his head. "I'm going back to bed." 

"Oyasumi naisai," Kagome said, already turning back to scowl at her reflection in the mirror. _Grandfather is so presumptuous sometimes! Why would he think that I would stay back there when I have exams? _

_Because you've been staying there overnight more and more lately, her brain told her. _

Kagome sighed. "Why do I keep going back? I mean, yes, they're my friends – but I'm so useless sometimes! I'm only good for finding Shikon shards, and that's the only reason Inu-Yasha even pays any attention to me!" 

She sat down on her bed, then laid back and stretched out. 

_Sometimes, I wish he'd look at me and see a young woman. Not a shard-detector, not , not a nuisance, and not someone who looks like Kikyou. Just me. Kagome. She yawned and closed her eyes. __Maybe tomorrow. I'll go back tomorrow, and maybe I'll tell him. Maybe I'll tell him…that I love him. _


	3. Time Travel

**Inu-Yasha: Future Nightmare**

**Chapter 3: Time Travel **

Kagome sat up in bed and stretched, yawning. Sleepily, she reached for her alarm clock, briefly wondering why it hadn't woken her up. 

She noticed that the room was dark. "It's not even morning yet," she said, frowning. "What am I doing up so early? I didn't even go to sleep until midnight." She peered through the unbelievable darkness and couldn't make out her alarm clock. "Don't tell me we lost power! Okaasan? Ojiisan? Sota-chan?" 

There were no answering replies. The house was eerily quiet. 

There was a bit of light coming in from the window – moonlight, it seemed. It illuminated a small patch of floor, and Kagome was puzzled. Her window wasn't _that small. She slid out of bed and peered at it in the darkness. _

The window was half-covered with large wooden boards. That explained why it was so dark – someone had covered all the windows. _Inu-Yasha, she thought sourly. __He's playing a practical joke on me! Covering my windows while I'm sleeping – Okaasan and Ojiisan won't__ be happy. She reached up and gripped the edges of the top board, and tugged. The wood came away easy – the nails they'd been attached to the wall with had almost completely rusted through, and snapped. Then she repeated it on the second and third boards. _

With the window cleared, the moon shone through brightly. Kagome wiped her hands on her nightgown and looked outside. 

"What the hell?!" She gripped the windowpane as she looked outside.

Her yard was in shambles. Pieces of garbage littered the dead or dying grass, if there was any grass to be found. Trees were strewn around like sticks, and those left standing were a sickly yellow. Inu-Yasha's tree (the one he liked to hang out in when he visited) seemed to be the only living plant, but even it had lost all of its leaves, giving her a clear view of the wellhouse. 

Or what was left of it. 

"The well!" Kagome gasped. She turned to look for her shoes, and gasped again. 

The moonlight illuminated enough of her room for her to realize that something was extremely wrong. This was definitely her room – there was her bed, her dresser, her television, her mirror. The only difference was that when she'd fallen asleep, it had all been in perfect order. Now it looked as if several tornadoes had ripped their way through it while she slept. Most of her furniture was in pieces, her mirror was cracked and the glass dirty, and pieces of her ceiling littered the ground. 

Completely forgetting about her shoes, she darted out of the door and into the hallway. "Okaasan!" she shouted. "Ojiisan! Sota-chan! Buyo!" 

The hallway was in just as much disarray. Part of the house had collapsed on itself, and there was a huge hole that led outside. Kagome, not willing to trust the stairs, climbed down the jagged pieces of flooring that led to the hole, and then stepped outside. 

The stones on the ground cut into her feet, but she didn't flinch or pause as she ran towards the Bone-eaters Well, shouting for her family. There wasn't a single answer from anywhere. When she got to the wellhouse, she immediately began digging through the wreckage. The shards of the Shikon no Tama were still hanging around her neck, thank goodness. If she could just reach the well, she could find Inu-Yasha and bring him back. He'd help her make sense of what the hell was going on. 

A large section of the roof was covering the actual well, but Kagome managed to slide it off enough for her to see it. 

The well was completely filled it with several tons of dirt. There was absolutely no way to get in. Somebody had closed the well. 

Kagome stared at the dirt-filled well, feeling confusion and despair wash over her. What the hell was going on? Was this some sort of mad dream? And if so, _why was she dreaming it? It didn't make sense. Nothing she had experienced recently could've caused her to dream up something like this – it was too unbelievable for her to even imagine. _

"Inu-Yasha!" Kagome shouted, squeezing her eyes shut. Maybe if she called to him, he'd be able to come to her, despite the dirt. "Inu-Yasha!" 

Something rustled in the bushes behind her. 

"Inu-Yasha?" She turned around and looked at the dead shrubbery. 

The figure that stepped out from behind the shrubs was definitely _not Inu-Yasha. She didn't know __what it was, actually. It was shaped like a human, but was obviously artificial in nature. Almost like a robot. It was a pale silver, with two glowing red eyes, and absolutely no other defining features whatsoever. A strange box was mounted on its shoulder, with a small laser light coming from it. Kagome froze. _

The light gleamed over her, like a scanner in a store. "NO IDENTITY CHIP INSTALLED," a mechanical voice said, but Kagome couldn't figure out where it was coming from. Well, the robot, obviously, but it had no mouth. There were no speakers. Kagome was just falling deeper and deeper in a state of confusion. "NO IDENTITY CHIP INSTALLED." 

"What's an 'Identity Chip'?" Kagome asked nervously. Maybe talking to it would help. 

The robot raised its arm, and the lower half folded back to reveal a hidden gun. "NO IDENTITY CHIP INSTALLED. SUBJECT: TERRORIST. ORDERS: ANNIHILATION." 

Kagome blinked. "What?! Hey, what…!"

"ANNIHILATION COMENSING." The gun began to aim, straight for Kagome's forehead. 

"Can't we talk about this?" Kagome pleaded, stumbling back but slamming into the well. "Please?" 

"FIRE AT WILL," the robot stated. The gun fired. 

_TSEEWW! _

The laser beam lanced past her, cutting into the stone of the well foundation. It had reflected off of a metal staff that had suddenly been thrust in front of her. The staff was attached to the hand of a person who was almost completely concealed by the shadows of the wrecked wellhouse – not even the moonlight could reach him or her. 

The robot immediately scanned this new person. "IDENTITY CHIP: SANJI FUJIMIYA. SUBJECT: STUDENT. ORDERS: PASS." 

"Sanji" handed something to Kagome. "Put this on," he said. "It'll scan you again in a minute. It's only an automaton – it can't tell the difference between someone its scanned and someone it hasn't. It thinks it hit you, and now senses two new people." 

Kagome looked at the strange bracelet in his hand. It was a basic metal ring with a strange rectangular box on it. "But…"

"Do it!" snapped Sanji. Kagome slipped it on just as the robot scanned her again. 

"IDENTITY CHIP: MICHIKO ANNO. SUBJECT: STUDENT. ORDERS: PASS." The robot's arm snapped back into place. "CURFEW IS INSTALLED. PLEASE RETURN TO YOUR HOMES. HAVE A NICE NIGHT." Then the robot turned and walked away. 

Kagome looked at her rescuer. "Thanks," she said uncertainly, "I think. What just happened?"

"I assume that you're not one of _them?" he asked, twirling his staff casually, like a baton. _

"'Them'?" she echoed. "Who's 'them'?"

Sanji glanced at her, and his tone was tainted with disbelief. "What, have you been living under a rock for the past fifteen years? I'm only talking about _them: the traitors, the sell-outs, those who mindlessly follow the plans of those corrupted asses – the Youkai Loyalists." _

Kagome stepped away from him and stared at him. "What? Who are the Youkai  Loyalists?" 

Sanji tapped his staff impatiently on the ground, then sighed. With one smooth movement, he slid it into a holder strapped to his back and turned to face her. His face was now half visible in the moonlight, and Kagome realized that he really couldn't be much older than she was. "You really _must have been living under a rock," he said in amazement, shaking his head. A small diamond stud glistened in the moonlight. "The Youkai Loyalists are the humans who submitted to the Youkai fifteen years ago. They all wear the identity chips. The Resistance fights the Youkai. Some of us hide underground, with no chips, putting on the removable false ones only when they need to go above ground. Others, like me, wear true chips, and fight from the inside. I assume that since you have no implant, you're either a member of the Resistance – which I doubt – or somehow you've managed to elude the Youkai." _

Kagome continued to stare at him, not quite sure what she should be making out of all of this. "What…what year is this?" she asked cautiously. 

"You're kidding," Sanji said flatly.

Kagome shook her head. 

"You don't know what _year it is?"_

"Humor me," she said. 

He sighed. "All right, all right." He shook his head. "This is what I get for switching patrol with Kouga. I'd be better off studying for my history final – not that the history they teach it real." 

_Kouga…?_

"It's the year 2020," Sanji said. "The Youkai took over in 2005. Happy now?"

_2020…?_

_Youkai…? _

_What…?_

"Hey," Sanji said, peering at the strange girl. "Miss? Are you okay?" 

Kagome just stared at him, eyes wide and uncomprehending. 

"Daijobou desu ka?" Sanji repeated. "Are you okay?" 

Kagome thought that she might as well answer that question truthfully, especially considering that she didn't have a clue as to what to say. So she fainted. 


	4. To Be Blunt

**Inu-Yasha: Future Nightmare**

**Chapter 4: To Be Blunt…**

"Miss? Miss, can you hear me?" 

"I don't think she's waking up." 

"Hang on – let me try something." There was a pause, and then suddenly a soft shower of rain came down on Kagome's face. The cold liquid made her snap out of her unconscious state, and open her eyes. 

Two people were kneeling beside her. One was Sanji, the boy who'd helped her escape from the robot. The other was familiar, and yet unfamiliar at the same time. She wasn't lying amongst the wreckage of her house (or what had once been her house) anymore. Now she was lying on a surprisingly comfortable couch in a dimly lit room with no windows. 

"You know, we could get in big trouble if anyone finds her," the familiar-yet-not-familiar boy said, looking at Sanji. "She's wearing a false ID, and her clothing is…well…out of date, to put it mildly." 

Sanji nodded and sighed. "I've got some of Diana's old clothes – something should fit her. They're only about three years old. They're in my trunk – go grab a shirt and a pair of pants." The second boy nodded and moved to the other side of the room. 

"Where am I?" Kagome asked, looking around. The room was sparsely decorated, and could've belonged to anybody, really. There were two beds, a flat screen on one wall that she guessed could be a television, two trunks, a closet, and a couple of dressers. 

"My dormitory room," Sanji replied. "I'm a freshman at Shikon University."

"Shikon University?!" Kagome demanded, sitting up suddenly. She winced as a dull, throbbing pain lanced through her arm, but didn't say anything about it. 

"Right," the second boy said, coming over. He handed her a shirt and a matching pair of pants. The material was smooth, sort of like silk, and metallic. Both pieces were the same color, a forest green. "Put these on. That way, if the supervisor comes walking in, you won't stand out. That nightgown looks like it's seen better days." 

"I see." Kagome glanced around. "Um…"

"Over there," Sanji said, pointing at a closed door. "You can get changed there." 

"Thanks." She got up and stepped through the door into what was definitely a bathroom. There wasn't any personality there, either. Everything was very plain. After changing from her nightgown into the outfit, she stepped out into the room. 

"That's better," the second boy said, grinning. Again, she got the strangest suspicion that she knew him from somewhere…

"You aren't much for decorating," Kagome said, trying to find something to say. There was a lot she wanted to ask, actually, but couldn't seem to form the right questions to say. 

"Every room is the same," Sanji replied. "The Regulators make sure of that. Humans are supposed to obey the Youkai and live according to the rules they set. The ruling Youkai in this area happens to like things to be the same. We don't get much say."

"He's a pompous bastard," snarled the second boy. "If I had my pack here…" His voice trailed off in a low growl. 

"Easy," Sanji said. "Keep it under control." 

"Who are you?" Kagome asked, sitting back on the couch. "And could someone explain what is going on? One minute, I was sleeping in my own room, and when I wake up, it's in shambles! What, did aliens suddenly take over Tokyo while I was sleeping?"

"Not quite," Sanji replied. "Our little conversation before you passed out leads me to think that you come from the past – not to mention the fact that you've been recognized, and according to local legend, you actually died quite a few years ago." 

"Fifteen, to be exact," murmured the second boy. 

"Died?" Kagome blinked. "What?" 

"Let me do this bluntly," the second boy said, his blue eyes flashing with emotion. "It's the year 2020. The youkai have completely taken over the world, and at the top of the food chain is none other than that bastard Naraku. Resistance was open at first, but after the death of you and Inu-Yasha, those against the youkai began to go into hiding. The Tetsusaiga and the Tensaiga both vanished. Miroku and Sango were killed a month later. Shippou disappeared. Others hid their identities. Life is hell. And Naraku still doesn't have the Shikon no Tama."

Sanji sighed. "That certainly _was blunt. You're tactless, you know that?"_

Kagome was trying to digest this information. "Inu-Yasha…dead? Miroku? Sango? Shippou?"

"Shippou is MIA," the second boy said. "Nobody knows where the little kitsune ran off to, but he's been out of the picture for nearly thirteen years." 

Kagome narrowed her eyes. "Two things. One, I'm not sure if I believe all of this. And two, how can you be so familiar with my friends? And how do you know who _I am? Who are you?"_

He smirked. "What, don't recognize me without the tail, woman?"

She stared at him. "Oh, my God," she whispered, looking at the seemingly human teenager. "_Kouga?" _


	5. New Informationand Even More Confusion

**Inu-Yasha: Future Nightmare**

**Chapter Five: New Information…and Even More Confusion**

Kagome sat on the couch beside Kouga. Sanji had a class to attend, leaving the two of them alone. "So…how can you be so sure that I am who I am?" she asked. 

"Well, I know you, Kagome," Kouga replied, swinging his long hair over his shoulder. She knew now why he had looked so familiar – his face still looked mostly the same, and his hair as well, but he was wearing normal-looking clothing, his ears weren't pointed, and his fangs nonexistent. He looked like a human version of the Kouga she had known. "Your scent is something no one can fake." 

She blushed, then narrowed her eyes. "I'm sure if I should be flattered or pissed." 

He held up both his hands and laughed. "Hey, I didn't mean anything by it!" Then he took a deep breath and sighed. "To be honest, though – I _wasn't sure if it was you at first. Only when Sanji told me about your reaction to the date, and when I noticed how strange you looked, did I believe that you might have traveled forward into time. I don't know how, though. The Bone-eaters Well was destroyed."_

"I just fell asleep and woke up here," Kagome said. "I'm as clueless as you. So, tell me – if Youkai rule, how come you're masquerading as a human?"

"Because I'm on Naraku's wanted list," Kouga replied. "Every youkai, hanyou, ad human who doesn't submit is. What you see now is just an illusion that's been cast over myself, to make me look human. I go by the name Kino Yatsushiro now, by the way. That's what my ID chip says." 

"Is that a real ID chip?" Kagome asked.

"Yes," Kouga replied. "Sanji and I infiltrate from the inside – we don't hide underground like the rest of the Resistance. We've got people all over the world." He grinned, obviously proud of that fact. Then the grin vanished. "We fight to survive, Kagome. We used to fight to destroy Naraku, but he's become too powerful. No one knows how, but he has."

"What about the Shikon no Tama?" Kagome asked. 

Kouga sighed. "No one knows. After Inu-Yasha died, the Shikon no Tama vanished. It broke into five pieces and disappeared." 

"Just five?" Kagome was surprised. "It broke into a thousand or more when I hit it with an arrow." Then she thought of something. "Wait. Are you saying that the Shikon no Tama was put back together? It was completed? We completed it?" 

Kouga was slightly taken aback by this suddenly energetic Kagome. If she had had a tail, it would've been wagging right about now. "Uh, yeah," he said, nodding. "It'll take awhile, but you'll complete it. Providing we get you back to your own time." 

Kagome gasped, and covered her mouth. "That's right!" she exclaimed. "I'm stuck in the future! Kouga, do you know how to get me back?" 

He shook his head. "Kagome, we're not even sure how you _got here. And you can't stay here, in this dorm. This is an all-male dormitory. When Sanji gets back from his class, we're going to get you to the Underground."_

She nodded. "Okay…Kouga, can you tell me something?"

"What?"

"How did…how did Inu-Yasha die? How did _I die? And Miroku, and Sango, and everyone?"_

Kouga took a deep breath and sighed. "Well, let's see – out of all of us, only you, Inu-Yasha, Miroku, and Sango are confirmed dead. You and Inu-Yasha died battling Naraku, about a year after the Shikon no Tama was completed. Nobody knows how, but Inu-Yasha was somehow able to use his hanyou powers to fight Naraku. But he'd been out of practice, and Naraku tricked him by using you as bait. Inu-Yasha died, and the Shikon no Tama was freed, and then…"

"Wait a minute," Kagome said, shaking her head. "What do you mean, Inu-Yasha was somehow able to use his hanyou powers? Inu-Yasha _is a hanyou!" _

Kouga looked at her in surprise. "Wha – you mean, you're from _that far into the past? Don't tell me he still wants to be a youkai!"_

"Well, yeah," Kagome said, nodding. "That's why he wants the Shikon no Tama." 

Kouga looked at her, dazed. "I had no idea…no idea at all that you were _that far back! The way you reacted when we said Inu-Yasha was dead, I assumed…"_

"What do you mean, the way I reacted?"

"The look on your face. Like someone had just ripped away part of your soul."

Kagome blushed and looked down at the ground. "Well, it does hurt, knowing that he's not alive in this time. I mean, I love him…" She gasped. "Oh, I just said that out loud, didn't I?"

"Don't worry about it," Kouga replied. "I got _that rude awakening over fifteen years ago. It's my younger self you'll need to be careful of. But you haven't told him?"_

"Who? You?"

"No, Inu-Yasha."

She shook her head fervently. "No! I'm not that stupid! Besides, he loves Kikyou."

Kouga smirked. "Not the way I see it," he said. "But if that's how things are in your world…damn." He got up and went over to a telephone sitting by the bed, and dialed in a couple of numbers. "Hiroshi-sempai. Yatsushiro here. When Fujimiya-kun has a break, tell him that he needs to come back to his room ASAP. I need to speak with him. It's about his family." He paused. "Domo arigatou. Sayonara." 

"What was that all about?" Kagome asked.

Kouga raised his hand to silence her. He was already dialing another number. "Yatsushiro. New developments in the web have occurred. I'll be returning to the nest within the hour. Fujimiya will be joining me." Then he hung up, without another word.

Kagome looked at him quizzically. 

"I can't tell you anymore about the past," replied Kouga. "Not until I confirm what I'm suspecting. But I have a feeling that you being here isn't an accident, Kagome. You just might be able to save this future."

"What do you –" The door opened, and Sanji stepped in. 

"What are you doing, calling my class?" he demanded of Kouga. "I almost got in trouble with sensei! Hiroshi-sempai came in and just announced that there was a situation with my family – its a good thing I lied on my transcripts and no one knows my parents are dead!" Then he noticed the serious expression on Kouga's face, and stopped short. "What's wrong?"

"New information," Kouga replied, glancing over at Kagome, who was still looking at him and waiting for an explanation to his sudden mood swing. "I just called in – we have to be to the Underground in the next hour before the sensors go back up. With our ID chips they'll fry us if they aren't down. I chose that window because I thought you'd be at class."

"It's a good thing you did choose that long, though," Sanji said, suddenly as business. He clenched his fists and closed his eyes. "We'll need to be careful getting Kagome out."

"What's going on?" Kagome finally asked, frowning at them. 

Kouga turned to her. "I think you can do something for the Resistance," he replied, "but we need to get you to the Underground first. You'll be safe there, and you won't have to hide out. We only have an hour to get there before the sensors go back up – they fry anyone who gets too close with an ID chip. Even though Sanji and I are part of the Resistance, the computer doesn't know the difference.'

"But what could _I possibly do?" Kagome asked. _

"That's what I'd like to know," Sanji said, glancing at Kouga. "But explanations can wait. The nearest entrance to the Underground is _not in a nice part of the city, and three humans are going to have enough trouble. Yes, three – you can't risk yourself, Kouga."_

"Couldn't Kouga just pass himself off as another youkai?" Kagome asked. "That ID chip will still have the other name."

"Three problems with that," Kouga said, shaking his head. "One: my ID chip states that Kino is a human. Two: I'm on the wanted list – I can't do anything suspicious. Three: I'm too recognizable. Even if I _wasn't a wanted criminal, my face and name would still be imprinted in every youkai's mind. We're famous, you know that?"_

"We?" 

"Inu-Yasha's group," Sanji replied as he opened his trunk and began to pull things out of it. "You, Inu-Yasha, Kouga, Sango, Miroku, Myouga, Shippou, Sesshoumaru, Rin, Jakken, Kaede, Kikyou, Teiya, Flare Takira…everybody knows your faces, your personalities, your adventures. And everyone who follows Naraku hates your guts." He tossed a piece of cloth to Kagome. "Put that on."

She did so, and saw that it was a cloak with a hood. "You named quite a few people," she said. "Since when are Sesshoumaru, Rin, Jakken, and Kikyou considered part of our 'group'? And who are Teiya and Flare Takira?"

Sanji looked at her sharply, then at Kouga. "What is she…?"

"Too far," Kouga said, shaking his head. "Too far back. She doesn't know yet. She doesn't. Sanji, Inu-Yasha still wants to be a youkai."

Sanji cursed under his breath as realization dawned in his eyes. "So _that's why…k'so! Why didn't you stop me before I opened my mouth?"_

"Baka," Kouga said, folding his arms over his chest. "I'm not psychic. How was I supposed to know what you were going to say? And you're always lecturing me on how rude it is to interrupt." 

Sanji tied a small velvet back to his belt, then picked up the staff he had used to help Kagome with the robot earlier. He glared at Kouga. "Since when do you ever pay attention to what I say?" he asked the wolf-youkai. "Next time, if you know I'm stepping into dangerous territory, stop me!" 

Kagome pulled the hood up over her head and shook her head. "And I thought Inu-Yasha and Miroku arguing was bad," she sighed. "Can we get going now? The sooner we get to this Underground, the sooner I can go home. I'm getting a headache, and I can't sit either of you to get you to shut up."

"'Sit'?" echoed Sanji. 

"You, uh, really don't want to know," Kouga said, wincing as images of Inu-Yasha falling ungraciously to the ground popped into his head.  


	6. Journey Underground

**Inu-Yasha: Future Nightmare **

**Chapter Six: Journey Underground**

When the trio stepped out of the back door to the dormitory, Kagome paused and looked around, wide-eyed. It was definitely Tokyo – she could see that, even now. But she'd been unconscious when she'd been brought through this area, and now could see that this really, truly couldn't be the time she had left.

It was still dark – although considering that she'd been unconscious for a period of time, it was probably a new dark. Lights shone all around from various buildings, and it looked everything like a busy city. 

Except many of the lit buildings were obviously built new. There were no signs of anything familiar. The streets remained the same, but even they had been redone, in strange shining stones, almost like crystal. The lights of the buildings and of the stars reflected them. 

There was something not right with a lot of this. 

"Come," Sanji said, placing his hand on her shoulder. "We have to go if we're going to make it to the Underground before the sensors are on. Kouga, watch the back. I'll lead her up front."

Kouga nodded and as Sanji led Kagome forward, he held back slightly. She glanced over her shoulder once, a few minutes later, as they were leaving campus. Kouga was just then moving from the back of the dormitory. 

"He'll catch up with us when we reach the neighborhood," replied Sanji. "We may need him then."

"Neighborhood?" echoed Kagome. "What neighborhood?"

"It's where the entrance to the Underground lies. We have to be extremely careful when accessing it. That part of town isn't good for us." Sanji gripped his staff tightly, glancing around. "Keep an eye out for Sweepers." 

"Sweepers?"

"That robot that you encountered when you arrived," he said. "There are more of them in the city, always looking for spies and rebels. Naraku's a very paranoid youkai. Much more paranoid _before he got all this power." _

"He doesn't have the Shikon no Tama, does he?" Kagome asked. 

"No." The two of them walked in companionable silence, and Kagome looked at the quickly-moving patrons around them. Many were youkai, and there were some humans as well. Some of the humans were wearing cloaks similar to hers, and following other humans or youkai – mostly youkai – around like servants. _That's what they are, Kagome realized. __They're servants._

Sanji grabbed her arm and stopped her. "Here. We turn here." He glanced behind him, then motioned carefully before leading her down the street. 

Kagome stared at the huge houses that stretched out along the street. "_This is a bad neighborhood?" she breathed. "This is incredible! They're even more amazing than the shrines in Kyoto and Nara!" _

"And they're all owned by youkai, so hush," Kouga said, stepping up beside her. He smiled apologetically at her when she jumped in surprise. "Sumimasen." 

"He's right, though," Sanji said. "They do all belong to youkai, which is why we have to be so careful. Any one of them might recognize us, and call the Sweepers or worse, the Hunters. Humans are pretty much forbidden in this part, except for servants and slaves." 

"Is there a difference?" Kagome asked bitterly. She was taking a definite dislike to the treatment of humans here. 

"Oh, believe me," Kouga said, "it's much better to be a servant. Slaves don't tend to last very long." 

A chill went down Kagome's spine. _What happened in the past to make this happen? she thought. __How could Naraku have gotten so much power without the Shikon no Tama? Instead of voicing these questions, she asked, "where's the entrance?"_

"Here." Sanji and Kouga turned up the walkway of one house, slightly more modest than the rest. It looked like it hadn't been used in a long time. The windows were dark, and it lay quiet. There was a sign on the large fence that surrounded it: **Beware of Dog. She thought that a tad bit strange. **

Sanji stepped onto the porch and glanced around. Kouga turned and faced the street to keep an eye out. Kagome watched as Sanji reached out and flipped up what appeared to be the doorbell, revealing a smooth computer screen underneath. He pressed his palm against it, and a second later, there was a click as the door opened. He stepped in and held it for Kagome and Kouga. Then he moved ahead, deeper into the interior, and let the door shut behind them. 

The house actually had furniture in it, Kagome realized, looking around. Someone lived – or had lived – here at one point. 

_Who?_

_Who's house was this? _

She looked at Kouga questioningly.

"This house was here before the others," he said quietly. "When its owner died, his family took it over and kept it. The entrance to the Underground was built in it, and we've used it since. We call it Safe Haven, although no one lives in it." 

"Tell her the strangeness of it, Kouga," Sanji called over his shoulder as he typed in a series of codes on the keypad.

Kouga grinned. "The house you saw outside is a shell." 

"A shell?" Kagome asked. "What do you mean?"

Sanji finished with the codes, and stepped over to them. "Wait a minute, and you'll see."

So she waited. 

There was a jolt in the floor, and a soft whirring noise. She looked around, and suddenly noticed that the floors had detached from the walls, and seemed to be…_moving?!_

"What in the world?!" she yelped, looking around. 

"The actually house is in the Underground," replied Sanji. "It's just part of our base. We use it as an elevator." 

"Just how far down _is this Underground?" Kagome demanded. _

Kouga glanced at the watch on his wrist. The sight unnerved her slightly, considering that the Kouga she knew didn't even know what a watch was. "Now."

The floors jolted again, and she looked around. The windows were back in place. "Can I?" she asked uncertainly. 

Her companions nodded.

She approached the dark windows, and looked out.

A few sickly lights lined decrepit roads. Crumbled buildings rose in the distance, and dead grass was visible. There was no sky, only a dirty, metal roof. Everything was as silent as a tomb. She could see further, to where it ended. It ended, in fact, just before the area her family's shrine had been in. 

She understood now.

The world above…was a lie. Something the youkai had created, to shield their destruction. No doubt there were places like this all over the world.

This Underground…_this was the real Tokyo. _

And it lay in total ruin.


	7. Welcome to the Resistance

**Inu-Yasha: Future Nightmare**

**Chapter Seven: Welcome to the Resistance**

Kagome recoiled from the window in shock. "This is…it's…it's _horrible!" _

"Yes," Kouga agreed softly, nodding. "It is. But we make the best of it, Kagome. We do." 

"That's what we'd like to say, at least," muttered Sanji. He checked his watch. "Come on. We should get out of here before the sensors come back on. Not everybody down here in the slums is loyal to our cause." He led the way to a door identical to the front door atop the plate, and opened it by tapping in the same security code he had before. The door swung open, and the trio stepped out into the Underground, shutting the door securely behind them. 

"I'll run on ahead," Kouga said, glancing at Sanji. Sanji nodded, and the wolf-youkai took off at his usual pace. 

"He must like being able to run down here," Sanji said as he motioned for Kagome to follow him. "He has to keep that incredible speed in check above ground."

"Can I ask you something?" Kagome asked. When he nodded, she continued. "Why did you and Kouga choose to remain above ground?" 

"Most of us did, in the beginning," replied Sanji. "Those who wouldn't accept the chips came Underground, while the rest accepted them but refused to be loyal. AS time went by, more and more of us got weeded out, until only a handful of us are above the Underground. The most dangerous places in the world are the ones built on the plates – there're several all over the world, but most of the country as been allowed to grow wild. 

"Kouga and I are lucky we haven't been caught, because we both have very personal reasons for wanting to be able to go where we please." Sanji sighed and clenched his fist; something that Kagome had seen him do several times already. 

"Can I ask what those reasons are?" she asked quietly, looking at him. 

He seemed to think for a moment, and then nodded. "The rest of the Resistance knows, so I don't see why you shouldn't. My reason is that, while both of my parents are dead, I have a son living above ground with his mother. She, too, is a member of the Resistance, and lives in Australia. Japan was the closest I could get to them and still not raise suspicion. We met in school, when she was an exchange student here, and she got pregnant shortly before moving back to Australia. I have never seen my son in the flesh, but I look out for him from afar."

"A son?" Kagome was shocked. "But you can't be older than eighteen!" 

"Seventeen, actually," Sanji said modestly. "I graduated early. That rarely happens – the youkai aren't thrilled to have a lot of upstanding human citizens, but I've proven somewhat useful. At least, that's what they think." He smiled to himself at some memory, but didn't elaborate. "My son, Kohaku, is now four years old." 

Kagome started at the name, and he noticed. "Is something wrong?" he asked uncertainly.

"N-no," she said, shaking her head. "It's just…his name. Kohaku. I knew someone by that name. Well, sort of. He was more of a friend of a friend. Brother, actually." 

"You don't say?" Again, Sanji smiled that secretive smile. 

"If he's four, you had to have been, what, thirteen?" Kagome asked. "That's a little young, isn't it?"

"Humans are a dying breed," replied Sanji, "and besides that, it's typical for men in my family to have children early. Granted, Kohaku came a little earlier than planned, but I don't regret it, and I know Dina doesn't, either." 

"Okay," Kagome said, nodding, but filing the information away for later. She wanted to know everything she could about her new companions. "What about Kouga?"

"Believe it or not, love is what's kept him above ground," Sanji said, the smiling disappearing. "It's tragic, really. She was the last of her kind, and the rest of his kind didn't approve of their relationship. Then, it turned out she had a past with Naraku, and the monster used that against her. She disappeared. Kouga is positive she's alive, and he'd know, I guess, being her life mate and everything. He stays above ground and, while he doesn't make it obvious, he spends all of his free time looking for her."

Kagome was surprised, and found that her heart ached for him. "That's…that's horrible! And he doesn't know what happened to her?"

"No, I don't." 

They looked ahead to see Kouga standing before them, his eyes narrowed and glaring at Sanji. "Thanks for keeping my confidence," he snarled. 

Sanji held up his hands in defense. "It's not like it's a secret, Kouga," he said. "The whole Resistance knows about her, for crying out loud." Kouga narrowed his eyes further, and shook his head at Kagome. "Oh, I see," Sanji said, realization dawning. "You didn't want her to know." 

"Yeah, brainless," snapped Kouga. "I didn't. She hasn't even met her in the past."

Sanji shrugged. "So? It's not like a told Kagome her name."

"You're not going to, are you?" Kagome asked, even though she was really curious. 

"Nope," Sanji said. "I'm not, unless it's necessary. The less you know about the immediate future, the better. Did you make it to the shelter?" He turned his attention back to Kouga.

"I did," Kouga said, nodding. "They're expecting us."

"Let's go, Kagome," Sanji said, grabbing her arm and leading her through the rubble that lined the streets. She couldn't help but notice how silent it all was, how dark and dismal it seemed. 

Then, suddenly, she spotted something not quite as decrepit. It wasn't sparkling new like the buildings above ground, but it at least looked like it hadn't been run over by a couple hundred tornadoes. Lights shone in the windows, and she could see shadows through the closed curtains. A little closer, and she could faintly hear music. 

"Nobody thinks twice about this place," Kouga said, practically skipping towards the building. Obviously, he still had some pent-up energy left over from his run. "And the Youkai Loyalists never come down here, but secrecy isn't really important."

"Is this…?" Kagome looked at Sanji.

"Welcome to the headquarters for the Resistance," Sanji said, grinning in relief. He stepped up to the door, activated his security code, and pushed it open. Kouga pushed in past him, and Kagome stepped in behind him. 

Silence. 

Kagome stared at the large room that she was in, at the bright lights that illuminated the people in it. Humans, youkai, and some hanyou, if she wasn't mistaken. Pictures were mounted on the walls, and despite the outside, it actually looked pretty homey. Obviously the people living here were here for the long run. 

And all of those people were staring at her. 

Sanji nudged her. "It's all right," he said, "they won't hurt you." He turned to the group and smiled. "Relax, everyone. This is the guest that Kouga and I brought with us – Kagome Higurashi." 

"Impossible," a hard voice said from the corner. Kagome couldn't really see the speaker. "That can't be Kagome. For starters, she'd look a lot older. And besides that, my sister is dead. You know that."

Kouga rolled his eyes. "Come on, Sota. You'd be the first to admit that time travel is definitely possible. You had a freaking time warp right on your property for years." 

Kagome gasped as the young man who had spoken stepped forward. If he hadn't referred to her as 'sister', and if Kouga hadn't called him by his name, she never would've recognized Sota Higurashi as being her younger brother. He certainly didn't look younger than her now – in fact, if anything, he looked like he'd probably had to grow up a lot faster than she did. 

"Otouto-san," she whispered, and she couldn't stop herself from shaking. Here was the first obvious piece of proof that she was definitely in the future. She never could've dreamed that Sota would look so suspicious, so unforgiving, and so battle-ready in the future. Not her sweet little brother. 

Sota approached her, and looked down at her from his near six-feet height. "She certainly looks like my sister," he said softly, but the suspicious glint didn't leave his eyes. 

"I found her in the remains of the shrine," Sanji said to the older man. "She doesn't have a chip – in fact, she was almost killed by a Sweeper. Pure luck that I was there to confuse it and hand her a false chip. No one goes to that shrine anymore, Sota. Not after what happened."

"He's right, Sota," a woman said, stepping up to them. She, like Sota and Sanji, was human. However, Kagome detected a slightly wild aspect about her, hard to place. "No one goes there – they all think it's haunted." She smiled at Kagome. "Besides, she looks too much like Kagome-chan."

The familiar term made Kagome looked at her more closely. "Have we…met?"

"Yes," the woman said, nodding, "in the past. But I imagine I was quite a few years younger. Closer to seven or eight, I suppose." 

Kagome tried to place it, but she couldn't imagine what the person before her had looked like that young. "I'm sorry…"

"Rin," the woman said, bowing slightly. "I'm Rin, Kagome-chan."

Kagome was shocked. "The little girl that follows Sesshoumaru around?"

"Still would, if it weren't for the fact that she'd needed here," Sota said, rolling his eyes. "And the fact that she can't be too far away from the Bone-eaters Well, or she'd die." 

"It's a long story," Rin said, smiling softly. "You are Kagome-chan – I can see that. Only Kagome-chan would refer to Sesshoumaru-sama with that tone of voice. Welcome to the Resistance."    


	8. Past Reminders

**Inu-Yasha: Future Nightmare**

**Chapter Eight: Past Reminders**

While Kagome was being settled in with the Resistance, another situation was rising on the other side of the world, in the United States of America. Much of this land had been destroyed by the youkai, and allowed to become overgrown. It was here that two travelers sought something that had been left there so many years earlier. 

"We're walking in fucking circles."

"No, we're not."

"Yes, we are!" 

"We're not."

"Are!" 

"Not." 

"_Are!" _

"Not." 

"DAMN IT, WE ARE! AND HOW CAN YOU JUST STAND THERE WITH SUCH A STRAIGHT FACE?!" 

A tall man with long black hair and dark blue eyes looked at his companion passively. "One who keeps calm during a situation will be more likely to not regret any decisions, rather than one who acts rashly and thinks of nothing." 

The woman standing beside him narrowed her eyes, her white bangs flopping into her face. "Don't you _dare act so smug and superior around me!" she snarled. "And I say we're walking in circles! I've seen that tree a dozen times already!" She pointed at a tree with a large X slashed into the trunk._

"I know," the man said, nodding. "I've been making sure that we keep within sight of it."

The woman blinked, and all the rage and fury seemed to disappear. "Really?" she asked. "Well, why didn't you just tell me?" 

"Because then you would've started to whine about how long this was taking," he replied. "The only reason I'm telling you now is because all that screaming was probably scaring away our friend."

"Friend?" She looked around her, her golden eyes inquisitive. "There's no one here but us, Sesshoumaru."

Sesshoumaru nodded. "I'm aware of that, now. But he'll be here soon, Flare."

The two stood only a few feet away from the tree, both looking in opposite directions. Neither of them were entirely sure who it was they were looking for – after all, being guided by a ghost who wouldn't give you a straight answer was always frustrating, especially when said ghost was only visible to Sesshoumaru. But Flare trusted the inuyoukai's claims of being instructed by his dead brother, and she also trusted Inu-Yasha, even in death. 

"You sure this is the right place?" Flare muttered. 

"Shh," Sesshoumaru said, his blue eyes narrowed. "Did you hear that?" 

Flare honed her senses and picked up what he had – a small rustling sound only a few feet away. "He's here," she whispered. 

"Right," Sesshoumaru nodded. "Get ready."

No sooner had he said those words than a huge blur shot out of the bushes behind them, launching itself straight at Sesshoumaru. The two went down, and Flare was forced to stumble back. She pulled out a dagger and aimed, but couldn't get a lock on their attacker. It was a blur of black and russet fur, and she couldn't distinguish Sesshoumaru from the other youkai.

Then, with a fierce growl, Sesshoumaru kicked the youkai off of him and rolled to his feet. His black hair instantly turn white, his blue eyes golden, the markings on his face reappearing as he got rid of the glamour that made him appear human. His claws glowed with poison as he faced off against his attacker, who now turned to face them.

Flare gasped. "A kitsune!" 

"Impossible!" Sesshoumaru stared, wide-eyed, at the young youkai. "The last kitsune was wiped out decades ago!"

"By your foul kind, inuyoukai!" snarled the kitsune. "Because of your High Lord, I'm left alone! Now be gone from my forest before I kill you myself!"

"Hmph," Sesshoumaru said, smirking smugly, "I'd like to see you try." 

Flare was staring at the kitsune, and wondering why Sesshoumaru wasn't seeing what she was seeing. _He sees only an opponent, she thought. __And he sees only the fury in the opponent. "Wait, my love!" she said, darting forward and diminishing her own glamour. Her hair and eyes stayed the same, but a short, fluffy white tail appeared, and metal casings wrapped around her arms to cover her claws. "You mustn't fight him!" _

"Explain why," Sesshoumaru growled, glaring at the kitsune. The kitsune growled and glared back. 

"Can't you see?" Flare asked. "This is no ordinary kitsune – this is Shippou!" 

At the sound of his name, Shippou straightened from his defensive position and lost his fierce look. "How do you know my name?" he asked uncertainly.

Flare stepped forward. "You don't know us, Shippou? We, who fought beside you against Naraku, who traveled with you in the times of Feudal Japan? Has it really been so long since you saw us that you wouldn't recognize this Flare Takira and her Sesshoumaru?"

Shippou looked at her, the unsure look on his face not quite disappearing. "What…"

Sesshoumaru looked at the kitsune. He'd aged himself in the last years, no longer the little kid he used to pretend to be. Although in reality he was several hundred years old, he know had the appearance of an adolescent male, late teens, most likely. His long russet red hair trailed down his back wildly, kept in check only by his bright blue bow. A roughly-crafted vest and pants were his only clothing, and his long fox tail trailed out behind him, longer than Flare's, definitely shorter than Sesshoumaru's own. The kitsune had filled out, for certain. 

Shippou stared at Sesshoumaru, and then at Flare Takira. He was having a hard time believing that he was really seeing them, his old friends. He hadn't seen them in so long…not since Inu-Yasha and Kagome had…had…

He growled. "Where the hell have you been these last fifteen years?! You guys disappeared without a trace, and left me all by myself!" 

The two youkai looked at each other, grimacing. "Um, Shippou…_you were the one who left __us," Flare said gently. _

This was news to Shippou. Had it really been so long that he'd forgotten the circumstances under which they'd all been separated by? Now that Flare brought it up, he remembered that she was right. He _had been the one to leave…and now he could remember why._

"You're here for them, aren't you?" he asked, looking straight at Sesshoumaru.

The inuyoukai nodded. "That's right. You have them, correct?" 

Them. The twin fangs of the Great Lord of the Western Lands, the father of Sesshoumaru and Inu-Yasha. 

Tetsusaiga, the sword that could kill 100 in one blow.  

Tensaiga, the sword that could heal 100 in one blow. 

Tetsusaiga had been given to Inu-Yasha, who had a kind and gentle heart. His father had wanted him to have that sword, so that he would learn how to protect himself. 

Tensaiga had been given to Sesshoumaru, who had a dark and violent soul. His father had wanted him to have that sword to teach him how to be kind and benevolent to others. 

The swords had also given the added benefit of not working against each other, and therefore making the two brothers immune to one another. Since they couldn't kill each other, they had eventually stopped fighting and soon, had learned to work together. They'd finally learned to become a pretty decent team. 

"Follow me," Shippou said, his tail twitching slightly. "I'll lead you to them."

Flare Takira glanced at Sesshoumaru, and nodded. "Let's go, then," she said. "These woods are giving me the creeps – I feel like we're being watched." She reached out and took her mate's hand, and the two followed the kitsune deeper into the woods. 

There was a rustle in the bushes a moment later, and a short, compact youkai stepped out from behind them. She was a rare wolf youkai, which gray and white coloring rather than the black and brown of the more common species. She had been following Sesshoumaru and his mate for quite sometime, making sure to _never let them out of her sight. Naraku would've had her head if she had. _

Smiling slightly, she moved quietly after them. 

Kagome stood in one of the rooms in the Resistance building, reveling in the peaceful quiet around her. The members of the Resistance had finally left her alone, with Kouga and Sanji returning to the Overworld, and Sota and Rin busying themselves with making sure some of the younger Resistance members got off to bed safely. 

Kagome had noticed earlier, during the tour she'd been given, the room that seemed to be full of framed photographs. She'd decided to duck into it for awhile and take a look. Maybe some of the pictures would clue her into a few of the things that nobody would tell her about. 

The first thing she noticed when she entered the room was a framed photograph hanging on the center of the back wall in the room, directly across from the entrance. She stepped up to it and looked at the people in the photograph. 

She knew them. 

Front and center was herself, smiling happily into the camera. It took her a minute to realize that what she was looking at was a wedding photo – she was wearing a wedding kimono, and the date in the corner was marked seventeen years earlier. 

Standing next to her, in a stylish tuxedo, was a lean man with long black hair and shining blue eyes. He wasn't looking at the camera, but he was smiling – at her. There was something very familiar about him, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it…

"Inu-Yasha," she breathed, suddenly realizing who he was. The young _human man was Inu-Yasha, a few years older than he was when she knew him, but definitely Inu-Yasha. _

Human. 

And she had a feeling that the picture _hadn't been taken on the first night of the new moon of the month. _

Not quite wanting to believe what she was beginning to suspect, she looked at the other people in the picture. Standing next to her, in her own kimono, was a grinning Sango. Next to _her, holding her hand, was a little boy with a mischief-filled grin on his face. The grin looked oddly familiar, but she couldn't quite place where she'd seen it. Behind Sango, with his arm wrapped around her waist, was none other than Miroku. His grin was identical to the little boy's, but she knew that wasn't what she was remembering. _

"Miroku and Sango," she murmured, grinning. "I knew those two belonged together. That little boy must be their son. Neat. I wonder what happened to him." She turned her attention back to the picture. Next to Miroku and Sango was a somber-looking Kouga, but no sign of the girl Teiya that Sanji had mentioned earlier. This must've been taken after she disappeared, which explained his expression. At Kouga's feet was a grinning Shippou, and a cute-looking Kirara. Kagome peered closely, and after a moment spotted Myouga perched on Kirara's back. 

Next to Inu-Yasha stood another familiar person, decked out in full youkai attire. Sesshoumaru looked every bit the regal lord that he acted in her time, but it was strange seeing him next to Inu-Yasha with anything but a look of revulsion on his face. Beside _him was a smaller youkai, and Kagome couldn't quite place her species – dog, or maybe wolf. But clearly from the way she was looking at Sesshoumaru, she was in love. Jaken, Sesshoumaru's frog-youkai servant, wasn't looking too pleased to be in the picture, and even less pleased at being stuck next to a smiling Rin. And finally, next to __that group, her brother, mother, and grandfather were also smiling in the picture, and it looked like her grandfather had actually been crying earlier. _

"Kagome?"

Kagome turned to see Rin, the older Rin, standing in the doorway of the room. "Hi," she said, smiling. "I was just looking at pictures."

"You found the wedding photo, didn't you?" she asked, coming over to look at it.

Kagome nodded. "Rin? Could you tell me something?"

"What?"

"Why is Inu-Yasha a human?"  


	9. The Reason for Kagome

**Inu-Yasha: Future Nightmare**

**Chapter Nine: The Reason for Kagome**

"Why is Inu-Yasha human?"

Rin glanced at the wedding picture, at the definitely human Inu-Yasha with his arms around an older Kagome, and seemed to suddenly deflate. Kagome immediately became worried that the young woman was going to faint, but all Rin did was lower herself into one of the chairs in the room. She took a deep, shuddering breath, and ran her hands through her hair. 

"Rin?" Kagome asked.

Rin motioned for her to sit down in the chair across from her, and Kagome did so, albeit a little hesitantly. "Sanji and Kouga didn't tell you?" she asked.

Kagome shook her head. "They were really quiet about anything having to do with the past. When I mentioned that Inu-Yasha was planning on becoming a full youkai, they stopped talking."

Rin nodded. "Too much information might make you change the past once you get there, and that would change the future." She locked her gaze onto Kagome's, and it became hard and defiant. "But I don't care what they say. Maybe changing the past is the _right thing to do. Maybe then you'll…they'll…he'll…" She growled softly and slapped the arm of the chair in frustration._

"What?" Kagome prodded gently.

"The way it went was this," Rin said. "After you collected the entire Shikon no Tama, you went back to your time, and you took the Shikon no Tama with you to keep it away from Naraku. What nobody was expecting was that Naraku was still alive in your time. We were hoping he'd be long gone. When you found out about that, you split the Shikon no Tama in half, and dropped the second half into the Bone-eaters Well to split it apart for good.

"Back in the feudal era, the second half was discovered by a little boy, who took the jewel to his baby-sitter. Me." Rin sighed. "I immediately recognized it and showed it to the boys' parents, who also identified it. There was a unanimous decision in the village to track down Inu-Yasha, but before we could, the village was attacked by a youkai. I, the boy, and his parents ran for the Bone-eaters Well, and somehow, the Shikon half we had allowed all of us to pass through the well." 

"The Shikon no Tama is the key to the well," Kagome said, nodding. "Without it, no one can pass through. But I've never heard of anyone besides me or Inu-Yasha using it." 

"We think that you made a plea with the Shikon no Tama, probably without knowing it, to bring help," Rin said. "That's what happened. The Shikon no Tama was reunited, and the well was sealed off, and it hasn't been opened since."

"That doesn't explain how Inu-Yasha is human," Kagome said, frowning in confusion.

"Youkai and hanyous live a long time," Rin said. "When Naraku attacked Tokyo to get the Shikon no Tama, we defended it. I was older by that time, and good with a bow and arrow. I wanted to be a miko, like you." She smiled at the memory. "Just when we thought Naraku was going to win, we made a startling discovery. 

"Inu-Yasha, Sesshoumaru-sama, Jaken-baka, Kouga, Shippou, Myouga, Flare Takira, and Teiya had all survived over the centuries since the feudal area, and were now in modern-day Japan. With their help, we were able to force Naraku away, and we thought he was dead.

"But then things began to get strange. Only a month after Naraku's defeat, Teiya disappeared. That was right around the same time that Inu-Yasha made an important decision – to use the Shikon no Tama to turn himself from a hanyou into a full human."

Kagome blinked. "What? Why?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Rin asked. "To be with _you. Inu-Yasha loves – or, at least, will come to love – you, Kagome-chan. He wanted to grow old with you, and so he made himself a human. The wedding was about a year later – your mother wanted it to be huge. And it was. It was."_

"I sense a 'but' coming," Kagome said. 

"Naraku wasn't dead," replied Rin. "And a couple of years after the wedding, he attacked. Somehow – and we're not sure how – Inu-Yasha was able to return to his hanyou form, but it wasn't enough. Naraku killed you, and he killed Inu-Yasha.

"When Inu-Yasha died, the Shikon no Tama escaped from his body, and broke into five pieces. These pieces disappeared, or so Naraku believes. We of the Resistance know that the pieces were actually entrusted to five 'guardians' – it's all part of a legend that Sango knew, about the Shikon no Tama."

Something clicked in Kagome's mind. "Those two who came through the well with you – they were Sango and Miroku, weren't they? And that little boy in the picture was the boy you were talking about."

Rin nodded. "He's was a little older when you died, and even older now. He's a freshman in college, and even has a son. You've met him, in fact."

Kagome gasped. "_Sanji is Miroku and Sango's __son?!" _

"Right," Rin replied. "But I wouldn't mention it to him. He doesn't like to talk about his parents. He watched his father become consumed by his Air Rip, and then was forced to deal with Sango afterwards. Poor thing, she just sort of wasted away after Miroku died." 

Kagome bit her lip, and blinked back tears. "I see," she murmured. "Rin, I have another question."

"Yes?"

"You said that the Shikon no Tama was split into five pieces," Kagome said. "Who were they given to? And what's the 'legend' Sango knew about?"

"The legend is a long one, but it mentions five guardians of the Shikon no Tama. It's very specific about the guardians. The first is a hanyou, second generation. In other words, the child of a hanyou who is a hanyou itself. The second is a human, cursed by demons. That's self-explanatory. The third is a youkai, born of mystery. We've interpreted that to mean a youkai who doesn't know his or her heritage – a mixed-breed. The last two are also youkai, but full-bloods: one of the light, and one who sees the light." Rin drummed her fingers lightly on the armrest. "It took us awhile to figure out who they were, and then when we did, we had no way of checking some of them. We'd already started to split up the group." 

"Who are they?" Kagome asked.

"The human, cursed by demons – we thought it was Miroku, but he didn't have a shard. After Miroku died, and Sanji inherited the Air Rip – yes, he has it, too – the shikon piece that belonged to him suddenly materialized. He wears it on a chain around his waist, and it's usually hidden. 

"The mixed-breed was another easy one. There aren't too many inter-species children in the youkai race, and only one was present when the Shikon no Tama split. Her name is Flare Takira, and you won't meet her for awhile, either in this time or yours. She's in America right now. She wears her piece on a bracelet around her ankle.

"It was also easy to determine the last two youkai. The one of good had to be Shippou – he's the only youkai there who was unconditionally on your side from the start. Even Kouga took some convincing. The problem with Shippou is, he disappeared a few weeks after you died, and before we could make sure it was him. No one's seen him since.

"The youkai who saw the light was Sesshoumaru. Back in the feudal age, he'd finally come to his senses and had seen that humans weren't really so bad – yours truly had a part in that." Rin smiled as she thought about her adopted father. "He's also in America, so you probably won't run into him while you're here. His piece of the Shikon no Tama is actually an earring that hangs from his right ear." 

Kagome massaged her temples as she struggled to process all of this information, and Rin took a deep breath and reached for a glass of water that she'd brought with her when she'd entered the room, then took a long drink. "Are you still with me?" she asked.

Kagome nodded. "Just let me make sure I've got it straight – you, Miroku, Sango, and Sanji came through the well using a piece the Shikon no Tama to help me protect it from Naraku, who was still alive in my time. Somehow, Inu Yasha and the other youkai in our group, or who will become part of our group, also survived the 400-something years since the Sengoku Jidai, and joined up with us. Then one of them, Teiya, disappeared when Naraku was born, and shortly after, Inu Yasha became human, and we were married. After that, there as peace for a few years, and then Naraku returned from who-knows-where, and killed Inu Yasha, who had somehow regained his hanyou powers. The Shikon no Tama that was in Inu Yasha was then split into five pieces, which are guarded by, according to an ancient legend from Sango's people, Sanji, Sesshoumaru, Shippou, this Flare Takira person, and…" She paused. "Who did you say the fifth one was?"

"I didn't," Rin replied. "And here's where it gets tricky. The identity of the fifth could only be one person, because the legend goes into great detail on her. Supposedly, she alone will be able to combine all five pieces, and a great power will be bestowed upon her. She will be connected, in some way, to each of the other guardians, and will wield a sword of destruction. She won't be human, nor demon. She will also have a connection through her past to the Shikon no Tama itself. And she will not know that she has her piece of the Shikon until all of the other four are collected and gathered around her."

"Wow," Kagome breathed. "That sounds like a lot of qualifications. How will you find her?"

"Oh, we already know who it is," replied Rin. "There are so many qualifications, in fact, that it's easy to track her down. For starters, it's a girl. That narrows it down quite a bit. The part about the power, we don't know, because we've never seen the five pieces combine. She is connected to each of the other four – for a year or so, she was raised by Sanji's family; she is related to Sesshoumaru; her closest friend was Shippou; and lastly, Flare Takira saved her life during Naraku's second attack. The fact that she will be neither human nor demon means that she _must be a hanyou. With those facts, it's not hard to determine who she is._

"Her name is Inu Maia." 

Kagome whistled softly. "Sounds like you have everything figured out. Inu Maia – is she related to Inu Yasha in some way? And what about the other qualifications?" 

Rin nodded. "Her connection to the past is through you, Kagome, the reincarnation of Kikyou and the only one who can sense the Shikon no Tama. And the great sword of destruction that she will wield can be only one." She looked at Kagome pointedly.

Finally, Kagome got it. She got what Rin had been hinting at. "The sword is Tetsusaiga," whispered Kagome. "Only a blood relative of Inu Yasha can use it…and if she's connected to me as well…a hanyou…"

"She's your daughter," Rin replied softly. 

Kagome leaned back in the chair she was sitting in. "My…daughter," she whispered. "Inu Yasha and I will have a daughter." A small smile appeared on her face. "What's she like, Rin? Can you tell me?"

"I can't," Rin said. 

"Why not?" 

"Because when she was three, a year after you and Inu Yasha were killed and right before Miroku died from the Air Rip, she was put up for adoption. I don't know where she is, and neither do any of the other Resistance members." Rin sighed and brushed her hair out of her face. "I'm sorry, Kagome."

"Why?" Kagome asked. 

"It was for her own safety." 

The new voice made them both turn towards the door, where Sota was standing. He was leaning against the doorframe, arms folded over his chest, the expression on his face clearly showing that he was unhappy with what he had just overheard Rin telling Kagome. 

"Sota-kun," Rin said softly, dropping her gaze to the floor.

"What have you told her?" Sota demanded, his voice hard. 

"Everything," Rin replied. 

"You have no right to keep something like that a secret from me!" Kagome snapped, a little ticked at not being told, and also at the accusing look on Sota's face. "I don't see how it could matter to me, anyway!" 

"You now know things that you shouldn't be able to know," Sota said tightly. "You can't go back now, but if you stay here, things will be able to change. Those who are here because of the past will begin to disappear. Naraku will win."

Kagome felt a flutter of panic. "Why can't I go back now?"

"You could inadvertently change something in the past," Sota replied. "Something that could end up changing the future. The consequences could be deadly. You might accidentally encourage Kouga, preventing him from being with Teiya and preventing Inu Yasha from getting up the courage to tell you his feelings. You could try to get Sesshoumaru on your side earlier than expected, and make him distrust you even more. You could end up hurting or even killing someone in the past important to the future, all because you're so cautious from what you know."

"And that's the point!" Rin suddenly shouting, standing up and turning on Sota. Sota blinked and stared at her. "What if she _could change it? What if she could make the future different from the way it is now? Maybe kill Naraku in the past before she goes back to her time, or…" Then her eyes widened. "She could go back to the past, and not think about what we just told her. She could just follow her path to where it leads her, and only change one thing. Inu Yasha was unable to defeat Naraku because he hadn't used his hanyou powers in so long. What if that wasn't the case?"_

Sota caught on. "You mean, stop Inu Yasha from using the Shikon no Tama…"

"To become human," Kagome finished. 

The three of them stared at each other. 

"My God," Sota replied. "That's it. That's the reason you're here, Kagome. You're here…to change the future."    


	10. Dark Thoughts

**Inu Yasha: Future Nightmare**

**Chapter Ten: Dark Thoughts**

Kouga woke up to the sound of something beeping loudly in his ear. Groggily, he opened his eyes, prepared to curse out whoever was stupid enough to leave their watch on his pillow, when he suddenly realized just what it was that was beeping.

"K'so!" he shouted, sitting up and narrowly missing slamming his head into the bottom of Sanji's top bunk. He stumbled, still half asleep, over to the cell phone on his dresser, and answered. "Hello?"

"Ah, Keno-san. About time."

"I was sleep, Myouga-jiji. What do you have for me?" Kouga picked up a small, handmade plushie in the shape of a wolf and squeezed it comfortingly. 

The flea-youkai sighed. "Gomen nasai, Keno. There's still no sign of her. I was so certain that we'd be close, but it's been almost two years since the last sighting. I just thought I'd check in with you before I headed for Australia." 

Kouga slid down the wall and sat on the floor. "Well, thanks for checking in, Myouga-jiji. When will you contact me next?"

"Two weeks from today, same time. And Keno-san?"

"Hai?"

"Try not to be asleep when I call."

"Sayonara, Myouga."

"Sayonara, Kouga." There was a click, and then a dialtone. Kouga turned of the phone and sighed. 

"Myouga?"

Sanji climbed down from the top bunk to look his roommate in the eye. "Don't get discouraged, Kouga," he said. "You'll find her."

"Do you even remember her, Sanji?" asked Kouga softly. "You were, what, three? Four?"

"I have a memory of her," Sanji replied. "She used to chase you around the house with a frying pan. You two were always fighting – I used to wonder how you ever managed to become mates."

Kouga smiled slightly, one fang protruding from his mouth. "We used to joke about that. Neither of us could figure out what we saw in each other – but gods, I love her." He reached up and swiped at his eyes. "Allergies."

Sanji wasn't fooled. He could hear how choked up Kouga's voice had gotten. While Sanji really _didn't have many memories of Teiya, he did remember that when she wasn't trying to beat up Kouga, she was always laughing. Her best friend, Flare, had once said that Teiya was never happier when she was with her surrogate family._

From what Sanji remembered, these words were true.

Sanji wrapped his arms around Kouga and let him bury his face in his shoulder. "We'll fine her," he said to his roommate. "I swear we'll find her."

"When?" Kouga whispered thickly. "Gods, Sanji, I don't know how much longer I can do this. Sometimes I think it's time for me to go underground, you know? Sesshoumaru and Flare have already said they'd welcome my help, or I could take up a guard position with the Resistance headquarters, protecting Rin and Sota."

Sanji just held his friend tighter, feeling his shirt getting soaked as Kouga completely broke down. And he continued to hold him, until the wolf prince had completely cried himself to sleep. When he was certain Kouga was out, Sanji managed to get him back on his bed and moved into a comfortable position. Then he picked up the Resistance cell phone that Kouga had been using and dialed. It rang once, twice, three ties.

"Hello?"

Sanji suddenly felt himself get just as emotionally choked up as Kouga had gotten. "It's me, Di."

Diana gasped, and then let out a laugh of relief. "Oh my…how…Sanji?!"

"Yeah, it's me, love," he said, smiling. "I know it's been awhile."

"Six months," Diana Gallagher replied. "I was beginning to get worried, but I know it's hard for you – are you…?"

"I'm secure," Sanji replied. "So. How have you been?"

Diana sensed something unusual in Sanji's tone, and quickly forgot all questions about the Resistance. "We're fine. I've almost gotten enough credits to graduate high school – it took me an extra year and a half, what with Kohaku, but I'm there. The rest of this year should finish the job. I've decided to put college off for a little while, and just save up some money. Jobs aren't as tight for humans here as they are in Tokyo."

Sanji sighed. "So you're staying in Sydney." 

"Looks that way," she said. "I know you wanted us to be together once I graduated, but San – we have to think about what's best for Kohaku. You've managed to hide your identity from Naraku this long, but Kohaku could jeopardize that. And you could be putting him in as much danger."

"I know." Sanji took a deep breath, but knew he had to continue. This wasn't _just a call to hear her voice, although he could've waited until morning. But he'd wanted to hear her, so he might as well get it all over with. "Do you remember me telling you about Myouga-jiji?"_

"That flea-youkai who followed you around when you were a kid?" Diana asked. 

"Right. He's going to be coming to Australia in a few days to stay with you and Kohaku."

"…Why?"

He took a deep breath. "He's coming to show you how to do it."

Diana felt her throat tighten. "No…"

Sanji clenched his right fight and closed his eyes as he continued. "It has to be done a certain way, and they have to be blessed properly. Myouga helped me when my father died – there'll be a twenty-four hour window, but since you won't know the exact moment, wrap it as soon as you can. It'll appear in his hand, but will take awhile to get active. He has to know that he can't remove them, no matter what. And then you have to be prepared to tell him everything – about me, the Resistance, Naraku, my father, his father, and his grandfather. 

"You won't be alone. I promise that within a week of it, Kohaku will receive a guardian. You've seen her – that little feline demon who followed me around when you were here. She protected my mother's family, so she kept an eye on me when I was younger, and she'll do the same for Kohaku."

"Stop it," growled Diana. "Stop talking this way."

"Diana, please," Sanji pleaded. "I have to. You knew what would happen when you got involved with me – you knew the risk. And, knowing what you knew, you agreed to carry my child."

"I love you," Diana replied thickly. "That's why I agreed to have Kohaku. It would've happened sooner or later – and you needed it sooner. But you also said that I might die in childbirth."

"You're strong," Sanji replied. "Stronger than most of the women in my family – and I'm thankful for it. My mother was strong, too." He smiled fondly as he remembered his mother. Then the smile disappeared. "But you have to continue being strong. You have to be there for Kohaku. My mother wasn't…and look where I am."

Diana was silent, and for a moment, Sanji was almost afraid that she'd hung up. "Will he have to fight?" she whispered then.

"He'll have to make that decision himself," Sanji replied. "Does he still play those games that I asked you to show him?"

"The fighting games?" She glanced into the living room, where her four-year-old son was pretending to be stalking their fish tank. "Yes. I wish he wouldn't, but he does. He's currently surveying our fish, making sure that they're no threat."

Sanji grinned. "He'll make an excellent Taijiya. I only hope that I can be there to continue his training. There are so few of us left, and he comes from a family of the best."

"All this fighting," murmured Diana. "When will it end?"

"I don't know, Di," replied Sanji. "When Naraku dies, I suppose." He thought of Sesshoumaru and Flare, and what they were doing in America. "Maybe it's sooner than later." 

After they talked for a little while longer, Diana filling Sanji in on Kohaku's developing life, Sanji hung up the phone and sat next to Kouga's bed, leaning against the side. Kouga was still asleep. 

Sanji held up his right hand and clenched it into a fist, feeling the smooth prayer beads that looped around his hand. Beads that were hidden from everyone's eyes by a black glove, but beads that he could feel against his skin every day. 

A lasting reminder of what was there, who he was, and what he eventually had to do. Or, should he die before that time, what his son would have to do.

Thinking about Kohaku, sweet, trusting Kohaku, and the burden that would fall to him one day, Sanji could no longer hold back the tears welling up in his eyes. 

High above Tokyo, on a floating expanse known to people as Shinku, stood a sprawling castle that was nearly as big as the city itself. Shinku Castle was synonymous with the word Hell, as often people would go there and never return. Only those that were favored by him were welcomed. 

Deep within Shinku, in a dark throne room, sat in a figure who had worn many faces over the centuries. Some of them had been for pure fun, as he had known that those lives wouldn't last for very long. His current face, and the one that he had had the longest, had proven to be the best. Although with his full-youkai power he could've changed it, he wore it as a mock to a certain inu-hanyou and his full-blooded brother. 

Naraku hated Sesshoumaru, and had hated Inu Yasha, with a passion. He had tried to take the inu-youkai under his wing, but Sesshoumaru had refused to be dominated by anybody. He was the son of a great Taiyoukai, and already lord of his lands. Naraku would've forgiven that, and probably would have been content with just annoying the one-armed dog, if Sesshoumaru hadn't gone the unforgivable.

He had gotten over his hatred for humans, a hatred that Naraku had, in fact, worked so hard to cultivate. And then he had joined with his brother _against Naraku!_

Sesshoumaru would regret that, that was for certain. Naraku would find the perfect way to dispose of him, and then that Sesshoumaru would cease to exist. 

The inu-youkai wasn't the only one on Naraku's list. There was that blasted monk, Miroku. Although Miroku Fujimiya himself had died of the Air Rip – Naraku had watched it, and it had been spectacular – the chances of him not leaving an heir were slim. Especially with how close he'd gotten to that Taijiya during his last few years. But if the child did exist, he hadn't shown his power yet. Until then, there was nothing Naraku could do. But then, until the child used his power, he wasn't a threat, so Naraku wasn't concerned. 

Flare Takira. Now there was a thorn in Naraku's side. Sesshoumaru had certainly picked a feisty one for his mate. He'd captured her a few times, purely for fun, but she'd always managed to escape. He wasn't entirely sure how she'd outsmart her guards, but she did. Next time, though, he'd personally oversee her capture. Then she wouldn't escape. 

And Kouga. That damned wolf was _still somewhere out in the world, a loose cannon ready to go off. He'd been after Naraku after the destruction of his pack back in the Sengoku Jidai, and had proven to be a formidable enemy. His search for his own mate seemed to have taken his mind off of Naraku temporarily, but if he ever found out…_

A light suddenly appeared before him, and Naraku watched as the image materialized in the middle of the throne room. 

"What news have you brought me, girl?" he asked.

The girl bowed and knelt before him. "I have tracked the inu-youkai Sesshoumaru and the mixed breed Flare Takira to America, as you commanded, my lord. They're on their way to the location of the Tensaiga and the Tetsusaiga now, with the guardian of the swords."

"And who is guarding the swords?"

"It's as you suspected," the girl replied, "although it seems the kitsune had all but given up hope that any of his friends were among the living. He almost didn't recognize them. He's grown into a formidable opponent."

"Very good," Naraku said, smiling. "Here are your new orders, Teiya: Follow them. When they have the swords, kill them. Then bring both swords to me. Understood."

Teiya bowed again, her eyes void of emotion. "Understood, my lord." Then she snarled and dug her claws into the palms of her hands. "They will pay for destroying my people. They will pay."

Naraku smiled. "Yes, they will, Teiya. Very good. You still remember the reason you came into my service." _Wiping her memory probably had something to do with it, a nagging voice in his min said. "Take as long as you wish."_

Teiya closed her eyes. "Arigatou, heika. You will not be disappointed." There was another flash, and she was gone.

Naraku sank back in his throne. No, he wouldn't be disappointed. Teiya was a quick, sharp killer, as he had known she would be. Unfortunately, she'd been brought with morals – damned things, they kept getting in the way of getting good servants – and he'd had to tell her a few little lies to get her to work for him. Those had been shot to hell when he'd made the mistake of sending her after Inu Yasha. Following behind the group had made her have one too many encounters with that wolf prince, Kouga, which had led to a particularly infuriating (for him, anyway) moonlight episode by a lake. He'd thought he'd lost her permanently then.

But she'd been vulnerable after Inu Yasha's death, and he'd seized the opportunity to recapture her. Once he saw that mind games weren't going to work, he'd wiped her mind free of the memory of the last 400 years and had worked hard to retrain her. It had paid off. Now she was the most bloodthirsty assassin in the world. 

All at once, he saw the perfect way to rid himself of Kouga. He'd been wanting something special for the annoying pest, something with a dramatic flair. He couldn't killed the wolf had anytime, or at least once he was found, but just flat out destroying him would've been lacking a certain finesse. Now he knew just the way. What would be more dramatic than having your life get taken from you by the very person you've been searching for the last fifteen years? 

Yes, it would be perfect. Naraku could picture it. Teiya's claws stained with blood. Kouga, staring at her with confusion in his clouding eyes. And then Naraku would laugh, and he would be the last thing Kouga would see before the wolf's spirit would join those of his departed friends.

Naraku chuckled softly. "The game will end soon," he said. "I can feel it. Once they're dead, nothing will stand between me and finding the Shikon no Tama."

Quietly, a lone figure listened to Naraku from near the window. He couldn't hear what Naraku was thinking, but judging from the expression on his face and the soft murmuring, he could guess. Suddenly he was glad he hadn't left as soon as he'd heard Naraku's orders to Teiya.

The figure stood up, and if one looked, one would've been able to see him clearly, just for a few seconds. But nobody looked, and if they had, they would've thought it was their imagination. The moon shone through him, lighting up his long silver hair, which had been shining in life but only transparent and almost unseen in death. Inu Yasha didn't know why he hadn't gone to the afterlife when he'd died, why he'd stayed only to have his brother the only one who could see him, but he knew it was important. 

It was time to leave Shinku, where he'd been for the last few months, searching for any signs of anything useful. Sesshoumaru needed him in America, and even if he couldn't really be of help, he had to be there. Besides, if Teiya was right, then Shippou and the fourth piece of the Shikon would be there. Bringing the four pieces would lead to Inu Maia, and Inu Yasha longed to see his daughter. She would be almost Kagome's age when he'd first met her. 

Inu Yasha glanced once more at the laughing Naraku,  and then disappeared. Anyone who saw him would've wondered if it was just their imagination, and then would've forgotten he'd been there at all. 

Ghosts had that effect on people. 


	11. Stolen Fang

**Inu Yasha: Future Nightmare**

**Chapter Eleven: Stolen Fang**

"Here."

Sesshoumaru and Flare stopped and looked at Shippou. They were standing in the middle of a clearing that seemed to be, somehow, unnatural. It took both of the youkai a minute to figure out why.

The wind was pretty strong in this part of the forest, but not a single blade of grass moved in the breeze. The trees completely closed off the clearing, making it almost impossible to step between the trunks unless you knew where to enter. And while the skies above were dark, a single beam of moonlight shone on the clearing. 

"Here?" Sesshoumaru asked the kitsune.

Shippou nodded and walked to the middle of the clearing. He reached out his arm…and his hand completely disappeared!

Flare gasped and covered her mouth with her hand. "A pocket fold!" she whispered. 

Shippou withdrew his hand, and held tightly in his grasp was a long, slender sword. "Tetsusaiga," he replied. The sword was secure in its scabbard, and wrapped in a soft cloth for added protection. Sesshoumaru drew in a sharp breath at the sight of a weapon he hadn't seen since the day Naraku had killed Inu Yasha. He watched as Shippou placed Tetsusaiga on the ground. "The blade that slays," Shippou murmured. 

Then he reached into the pocket fold again. Once more, his hand disappeared, and once more he held a sword when he withdrew it. It was nearly identical to the first, only wrapped in a white cloth rather than a black one. "Tensaiga," Shippou said. He turned to face Sesshoumaru, and motioned for him to come forward. Sesshoumaru did so.

"The blade that heals," Shippou said, and placed Tensaiga in Sesshoumaru's hands. Whatever protective enchantments had been on the sword instantly vanished with those words.

Sesshoumaru stared down at the sword in his hands. "Glad to have you back," he whispered softly. 

There was a slight rustle in the bushes. 

Flare's head snapped around. "Sesshoumaru! Look out!"

A gray and white blur shot out of the bushes and launched itself straight at Sesshoumaru. He stumbled back and threw up his hands to save his fall, dropping Tensaiga in the process. 

The blur completely bypassed him and instead went for the sword. Stopping, she reached down and lifted the sword up into her hands. "My master will be wanting this," she said, smiling. Shippou snarled and started to advance towards her, but she snapped her fingers quickly, and he was frozen in time. All he could do was watch as she approached Tetsusaiga.

"I might as well take this one, too," she said, reaching for it. Her fingers came into contact with the sword.

_ZAP!_

"Ow!" she shouted, stepping back. She stuck her fingers into her mouth. "The damn sword shocked me!" She glared at Shippou. "I'll be back for the sword, kitsune. Count on it." 

Then, as quickly as she'd arrived, she left.

The enchantment she'd placed on Shippou, Sesshoumaru, and Flare vanished, and all three could move freely. Shippou immediately picked up Tetsusaiga and placed it back into the pocket fold. "No one but me and reach it in there," he said. "I better leave it there until we find Inu Maia." 

Flare placed a hand on Sesshoumaru's arm. "Sesshoumaru?" she asked.

Sesshoumaru was shaking with fury. "That bitch took my sword!" he snarled. "She must have been working for Naraku!" 

Shippou nodded. "And now, with Tensaiga, it'll be nearly impossible to kill him." He bit his lip. "Was it just me, or did she look familiar?"

Flare and Sesshoumaru glanced at each other. "Was it…?" he asked.

"Yeah," Flare said, her eyes flashing. "It was. It was Teiya." 

Shippou cursed loudly, causing his companions to blink. "Now what?" he asked when he was finished.

"I think it's time," Sesshoumaru said. "It's time to go back." Flare nodded in agreement.

"I'm going, too," Shippou said. 

"What about Tetsusaiga?" asked Flare.

"It'll be fine," Shippou replied. "Like I said, only I can take it from the fold. I don't have to be here to guard it. And at any rate, you'll need my help." He smirked. "After all, I've got the fourth Shikon shard." To emphasize his point, he removed one of the leather bands around his wrist, and revealed a glowing piece of the jewel attached to a gold chain.

Flare glanced down at her ankle, where her own shard was secured on a similar chain. "You know about the shards?" she asked.

"Not everything," Shippou replied. "But some."

Sesshoumaru reached up and fingered his own shard, which hung from his ear. "Then we have all four," he said. 

"All we need now is Inu Maia," Flare said, a slight tone of hope rising in her voice. "Then Naraku will have something to worry about!"

_It's not going to be that__ simple._

"What the hell?!" Flare and Shippou looked around wildly for the source of the voice.

Sesshoumaru was the only one not surprised. He looked past the other two, at a figure he could just barely see in the moonlight. "Inu Yasha."  


	12. Almost Too Late

**Inu Yasha: Future Nightmare**

**Chapter Twelve: Almost Too Late**

Sesshoumaru kept his gaze fixed on Inu Yasha as the spirit approached the trio, a grim expression on his face. Flare and Shippou stood next to Sesshoumaru, stunned at seeing the dead hanyou after so many years. 

"Inu…Yasha?" whispered Shippou, eyes wide. He was literally trembling with shock.

Inu Yasha looked at him, and smiled a sad half-smile. "What's the matter, Shippou?" he asked. "You look like you've just seen a ghost."

The near-joke seemed to make some of the tension go away, and Shippou cocked a smirk of his own. "No way," he said. "No offense, but even as a spirit, you're not much to look at, Dog-boy." 

Inu Yasha growled playfully, then shook his head and sighed. "It's good to see you again, Shippou."

"You, too," Shippou agreed. 

Sesshoumaru was slightly stunned. He couldn't understand _what Inu Yasha was doing there, or why Flare and Shippou could seemingly see him. "I don't understand," he said hesitantly. "I thought I was the only one who could see you."_

"You and anyone in your immediate vicinity," replied Inu Yasha. "You just never realized it before because I always made sure you were alone when I came to see you. It's all right, Flare. It's just me."

Flare stepped a little closer to Sesshoumaru, and he wrapped his arm around her waist. "It's just…strange, that's all," Flare replied. "I wasn't expecting…"

"What are you doing here?" Sesshoumaru asked. "From the way you were talking, it doesn't sound like it's anything good."

Inu Yasha nodded. "You're right, unfortunately. That _was Teiya, and she was ordered to steal Tensaiga and Tetsusaiga for, who else, Naraku."_

Flare's eyes widened. "_Naraku?!" she snarled. "What the hell would Teiya be doing working with __Naraku?!" _

"That I'm not sure about, since I wasn't spying on Naraku at the time of Teiya's disappearance," Inu Yasha replied.

"He's probably manipulating her, like he did in the past," Shippou said. 

"But she didn't even seem to know us," Flare said.

"Well, he did erase Sango's brother's memory," Sesshoumaru mused. "He's probably done the same with her. What else did you hear, Inu Yasha?"

"Only that Naraku has it in for certain individuals, and I'll give you three guesses as to who they are." He clenched his jaw and a dangerous glint appeared in his eyes. "While I was there, I heard him making plans to arrange Kouga's death…and to do it using Teiya."

Flare gasped. 

"You're joking," Sesshoumaru said. 

"I'm not," replied Inu Yasha. "You three need to get back to Japan, and fast. I don't know when Naraku's planning on going after him, but Kouga needs to be warned. If he's not, and Teiya attacks him, he's not going to be prepared to fight. You know how that wolf gets when his heart comes into play." He rolled his eyes in memory, and the other three nodded in agreement. 

Sesshoumaru growled softly. "Thank you, Inu Yasha," he said. "You're leaving now?"

Inu Yasha nodded. "I have a few things to check up on. I'll be back when I know more. Good luck." 

"Same to you." Sesshoumaru watched as his brother stepped back a few paces, and then faded away. After a minute, it was like he hadn't even been there at all.

Shippou groaned and brushed his red bangs out of his face. "How are we supposed to get to Japan that quickly?" he complained. "We don't have much time. Naraku doesn't wait for long." 

"I keep forgetting that you're just a kitsune," Sesshoumaru said teasingly. "Don't you remember that inu-youkai have alternate ways of traveling than just walking? And since Flare is part wolf, she can get us to Japan in no time." 

"Oh, yeah," Shippou said, blinking. "I guess there are still a few things I haven't entirely recalled yet. Gomen."

"It's all right," Flare said. She snapped her fingers, and a swirling cloud formed around her. Sesshoumaru and Shippou stepped closer, and the cloud grew around them as well. Sesshoumaru was used to this form of travel, but Shippou wasn't, and when Flare shot them all into the air at a faster-than-normal pace, the young kitsune nearly had a heart attack. 

"Sorry," Flare shouted over the rushing wind. "I forgot how much faster I am that most youkai. Are you okay now?"

Shippou steadily regained his balance – and composure – and nodded. "Yeah," he said. "I think."

"We should be there in a couple of hours," Sesshoumaru said. 

"Great. I just hope we make it in time." 

"Kou—Keno!" 

Kouga looked up from where he was sitting on a bench not far from his dorm building, and his eyes widened at the sight of Kagome striding towards him. She was dressed in more modern clothing, and an ID bracelet was secured around her wrist to fool any Sweepers. She bounded over to him and sat down, smiling. 

"What are you doing here?" Kouga asked, blue eyes wide with amazement. 

"Well, Rin wanted me to come and see how you and Sanji were doing, so she fitted me with my very own ID chip," Kagome said. "I'm now Haruka Tanaka, by the way." 

"Pleased to meet you," Kouga said, grinning. "If you've got a false chip, does that mean that neither Rin nor Sota could figure out how to get you home?"

"Not yet," Kagome replied. "But I'm not entirely sure I want to go back, just yet. They told me what was going on around here – about five pieces, and the Shikon legend." 

Kouga drew in a sharp breath, and nearly choked from a sudden coughing fit. "They…what?"

"They told me everything," Kagome said softly. "About the past." 

"Those idiots," the wolf youkai growled. He stood up and grabbed her arm. "Come on. We're going to go find Sanji, and then we're going to have a talk with Rin and Sota."

Kagome pulled her arm out of his grasp and shook her head. "No, Kouga. See, Rin, Sota, and I came up with a plan." 

He looked at her. 

"Rin seems to think that if we complete the Shikon again, we can use it to send me back home," Kagome said quietly. "Then I'm going to change the past."

Kouga blinked, uncertain if he had heard her correctly. "You're…what?"

"I'm going to change the past," Kagome repeated. "I'm going to stop Inu Yasha from using the Shikon no Tama to become human. That way he can kill Naraku when Naraku attacks again. Don't worry," she added. "I don't know enough to mess with anything else in the past - you'll still meet Teiya, and Sesshoumaru will still come to his senses, and all of that. I'm just going to stop Inu Yasha from becoming human, and hopefully, that will be enough to change this future." 

"Change the past, change the future," Kouga murmured. "Of course. It makes sense." 

Kagome smiled slightly, a little uncertain. "So…it's all right with you?" 

Kouga looked thoughtful, then nodded. "Any future has the better than - AAAHHH!" He grabbed his shoulder as black blood gushed out from the open wound that had suddenly appeared there. People stopped and stared as Kouga fell to his knees, screaming in pain. 

"_Kouga!" Kagome shouted, falling to her knees beside him. "What happened?" She pried his hand away, and gasped when she saw five long gashes in his shoulder, made from claws. "How did that happen?!" _

"I didn't even see the attack," groaned Kouga. 

A low laugh filled the air, and Kouga and Kagome both looked to the left. 

Kagome stared at the gray and white-haired young woman, eyes narrowed. "Who the hell are you?" she demanded angrily. The woman's wolf tail flicked teasingly behind her, and black blood dripped from her claws.  

Behind Kagome, Kouga let out a strangled cry. "Teiya --!" 

Kagome gasped. _This was Kouga's mate? But she had just __attacked him! "What are you doing?" she shouted. "Why are you hurting him?"_

"I'm not hurting him, human," Teiya said coldly. "I'm killing him. And you're not going to stop me." 

Kagome took a step forward…and immediately froze. _I can't move! she realized with growing panic. Teiya smirked and shook her head, then advanced towards Kouga. _

"My master has ordered your death," she said. "You might as well extinguish that disguise of yours – I'm sure you'd rather die looking like a youkai, rather than a human."

Kouga growled, but did as she suggested. The gathering crowd gasped at the sight of Keno Yatsushiro disappearing, the be replaced by one of the most wanted youkai's in the world. Kouga was right, Kagome realized - he _was recognizable. She tired to move again, but found it impossible. __What are you doing, Kouga? she pleaded silently, looking at him. __Why are you just sitting there?_

Teiya lunged, claws outstretched, and Kouga nimbly jumped away. Even with blood pouring from his wound, with one hand pressed over it, he was still a force to be reckoned with. Teiya's ability to freeze didn't work on anyone who knew how to shield themselves from it, and Kouga's speed was his advantage. But even as she lunged and he dodged, Kagome could see with growing dread that Kouga was going to tire fast, and Teiya wasn't. 

And Kouga didn't seem to be doing anything but protecting himself. 

_He won't hurt her! Kagome realized. __He's going to get himself killed if he doesn't start being more aggressive, but he won't hurt her! He loves her that much! _

Kouga dodged to the left of Teiya's claws, felt his foot slip on some loose gravel, felt his ankle twist under him, and hit the ground with enough force to momentarily stun him. Teiya, seeing the opportunity, moved in for the kill.

A piercing roar split the air, and the gray wolf had just enough time to jump away from Kouga before a pair of flaming claws tore into her. 

"Kirara!" Kagome shouted, then gasped happily when she realized that she could again. A second later she found out why, when Sanji, dressed in the robes of a monk, leaped off of Kirara's back and faced Teiya, staff in hand. 

"Kagome, get Kouga onto Kirara!" Sanji commanded, clutching the staff.

Teiya snarled in aggravation. "You!" she shouted. "My master will have your head as well, houshi!" 

Sanji smiled grimly. "And when he does, his will fall alongside it, I promise you that. Make sure you tell that to him when you see him again." He spun around and pulled himself onto Kirara's back, keeping his covered right hand aimed at her the whole time. "Follow us, and you die." With a quick whispered word from him, Kirara leaped off the ground and took off into the sky. 

She touched down outside the plate, not far from where Kagome had first come into this time. Sanji jumped down and helped Kagome get Kouga spread out. He pulled off his outer robe, revealing his school uniform underneath, and put tore off a piece to wrap around Kouga's shoulder. Kirara remained in her fighting form, keeping an eye out for enemies. 

"That was Teiya, wasn't it?" Kagome asked, kneeling next to Kouga. She bit her lip when she saw how much blood he'd lost.

"Yes," Sanji replied. He shook his head in disgust. "I had a feeling Naraku had something to do with her disappearance, but I never imagined it was anything like this. He wanted her to kill him." 

"I didn't realize that Kouga was that much of a problem for Naraku," Kagome said, not worrying about Kouga getting offended. He was pretty much unconscious due to loss of blood. 

"Teiya used to be Naraku's pet plaything," Sanji explained. "That was back in the Sengoku Jidai, of course, but he holds a long grudge. He's never forgiven Kouga for taking her away." 

"I see." She looked at the blood-soaked cloth, and watched as Sanij tore another piece and wrapped it around the first. "The blood's not stopping." 

"Damn it, I know," Sanji groaned. "I can sew up the wound, although it'll be messy if the blood doesn't stop, but I'm not even sure if he can survive with this much blood loss, anyway."

"Can't we do a blood transfusion?" asked Kagome, remembering a lesson from health class. 

"Youkai blood is hard to match," replied Sanji. "The only successful transfusions are ones between siblings – even if they're only half, the blood is still recognized by the youkai's body…that's it!" He reached into Kouga's pocket and removed a cell phone. He pressed a button and held it up to his ear. "Keep putting pressure on the wound," he told Kagome. She nodded and immediately pressed her hands against the cloth. 

"Rin!" Sanji said when someone picked up. "Do you know where Flare is right now? What? When? That's great! Well, the warning's a little late – no, we'll come to you. We'll take the ground entrance. Just tell her to be ready for a transfusion, okay? All right. See you in a couple of minutes." He turned off the cell phone and shoved it into his own. "Help me get him back on Kirara. We're going back to Headquarters."

"Is there an entrance around here?" Kagome asked.

"Our back-up is in a tree about half a mile from here - Kirara can get us there easily. Sesshoumaru and Flare Takira arrived about ten minutes ago – talk about timing – with a warning for Kouga about Teiya." Sanji wrapped another cloth around Kouga and tightened it to help stop the flow of blood. "It's a little late, but it's still a good thing they're here. Flare can give him blood."

"But I thought you said it only worked between siblings," Kagome said.

"Keep this a secret from your group when you get back to your time – Sota filled me in on the plan – but Kouga and Flare share the same mother. While Kouga's father was a wolf youkai leader, and a full wolf, Flare's father was half wolf, half dog. Kouga's older by about 50 years, give or take a decade." Sanji made sure that Kouga was secure on Kirara's back, then hauled Kagome up and pushed Kirara forward. The feline guardian wasted no time in racing for the expanse of trees in front of them.

Rin slammed the phone receiver down and ran out of the small bedroom she and Sota shared. "Flare-kaasan!" she shouted as she ran for the front room. 

Flare looked up, along with Sota, Sesshoumaru, and Shippou, startled at Rin's outburst. "What is it?" she asked.

Rin was already pushing furniture to the side of the room. "Help me," she ordered Sota, who immediately obliged. 

"Rin?" Sesshoumaru asked.

"That was Sanji, Sesshoumaru-sama," she told her adopted father. "Teiya apparently already went after Kouga, and it sounds like he was pretty hurt. He wants Flare-kaasan to be ready to give blood when he gets here. They're taking the ground entrance. 

Shippou's ears twitched, and he glanced out the window. "I think they're here." 

The door burst open at the moment, and Sanji and Kagome hurried in, carrying Kouga between them. 

"Here!" Rin said, pointing to the spot on the floor that she'd cleared. They placed Kouga carefully onto it, being careful not to make his injury any worse. 

Flare looked at him, and immediately felt sick. "He's so pale," she whispered. 

"Well, if we can get some blood into him, hopefully he'll look as good as new," Sanji said briskly. "We finally got the bleeding to stop – all I need to do is sew up the wound, and then we'll be ready for you, Teiya. Sota, go into the infirmary and get two needles and a sterilized tube. Kagome, get a bowl of warm water from the kitchen. Sesshoumaru, clean towels from the bathroom. Rin, I need you to help prepare Flare." 

None of them protested Sanji's sudden command, and they immediately raced to complete their assigned tasks. Even Shippou, who hadn't been told to do anything, helped by going with Sota to get the medical supplies. 

When the two returned with the needles and the tube, Rin took one of the towels from Sesshoumaru and wrapped it tightly around Flare's arm, forming a tourniquet. Then she did the same to Kouga's arm, being careful not to disrupt any of Sanji's stitching. There wasn't time to pull out the stitches and start over again. 

Kagome set the bowl of water down, and Sota quickly washed off the needles and tube in it, just to be on the safe side. Sanji and Rin washed their own hands in the boiling water to sterilize them as best as they could, and then Sanji motioned for Flare to kneel next to Kouga. 

Kagome winced when Sanji slid the needle into Flare's arm, then quickly inserted one end of the tube. Rin kept her finger over the other end, preventing the black blood that filled it from coming out, while Sanji searched for one of Kouga's veins and pricked him with the second needle. When he managed to do that, Rin quickly inserted the other end of the tube into _his arm. _

Everyone in the room breathed a sigh of relief, and Sanji swiped the back of his hand over his sweating forehead. "I don't ever want to have to do that again," he said. To Flare he added, "we need to give him as much as possible. Let me know when you feel light-headed, but not a minute longer. I don't want to have to have _him give __you a transfer next." _

"That was amazing," Kagome said, looking at Sanji. "Where did you learn out to do that?"

Sanji looked embarrassed as Rin grinned at him. "He's a first-year med student," she replied. "And before that, he was a paramedic during high school." 

"I picked up a few things," Sanji admitted. He scratched behind Kirara's ears and sighed. "I'm glad it's over, though. For a second, I was afraid."

Sesshoumaru nodded as he watched the color begin to come back into Kouga's face. "It's a good thing you were there."

"I wouldn't have been if it weren't for Kirara," replied Sanji. "She knew something was wrong and found me. How are you feeling, Flare?"

"I think I've pretty much reached my limit," she said, putting one hand against her head and closing her eyes. "Has he had enough?"

Sanji nodded and began to undo the transfusion equipment. He removed the tube from both arms and wrapped a piece of gauze around each to help stop the bleeding again. "He'll sleep it off," he said. 

"Not in the middle of the floor, he won't," Sota objected. "Let's get him to one of the bedrooms. Shippou, give me a hand." The kitsune nodded, and helped Sota carry Kouga out of the living room. 

"He'll be okay?" Kagome asked Sanji.

"He'll be off his feet for awhile, but yes, he'll be okay," Sanji said with conviction. Then he turned to look at Sesshoumaru and Flare. "When did the two of you get back, and why?"

Flare took the glass of water that Rin was offering her and gulped half of it down before she responded. "We got back about half an hour ago, just before you called," she replied. Smiling at Kagome, she added, "I'm Flare Takira." 

"Higurashi Kagome," replied Kagome, instantly taking a liking to the mixed breed. "From the past."

Sesshoumaru raised his eyebrows and eyed Rin. "I think some explanations are in order."

"Wait for us," Shippou said as he and Sota reentered. "I want to hear this two."

It didn't take very long for Sanji, Rin, Sota, and Kagome to reiterate everything that had happened in Japan since Kagome had woken up in the ruins of her bedroom and realized that she definitely wasn't where she was supposed to be anymore. When they were finished, the inu-youkai, the mixed breed, and the kitsune stared at them with wide eyes. 

"Amazing," Shippou said, shaking his head. "And while this was going on, I was wandering through the forest, almost completely feral."

"Oh?" Sanji asked. "I think you three owe _us some explanations as well."_

"It turns out that Shippou has been guarding Tetsusaiga and Tensaiga this entire time," Sesshoumaru replied. "And while he was all alone in the forest, he'd almost forgotten about all of us. Fortunately, seeing this Sesshoumaru and Flare Takira managed to snap him out of that - but not before he managed to get in a couple of good shots." He mock-glared at Shippou, who smirked at him smugly. 

"Once Shippou realized who we were," Flare continued, rolling her eyes at the two males, "he took us to where the fangs were kept. Unfortunately, just after Sesshoumaru regained Tensaiga and the barrier spell on it vanished, Teiya showed up and snatched it." 

Kagome's eyes widened. "Really?" she asked. "But…if Teiya works for Naraku, then…"

"Then Naraku has Tensaiga," Sota growled. "Damn it!" 

But Kagome still looked confused. "But why would he want Tensaiga?"

"Because Tensaiga is the sword that heals and protects," replied Shippou. "Whoever carries the sword is safe from any injury. And unlike Tetsusaiga, Tensaiga can be handled by any youkai."

"But…couldn't Tensaiga choose not to work for Naraku?" Kagome asked. "I thought the swords could choose their masters."

"But don't forget," Sanji reminded her, "that Naraku is the master of deception. He could easily confuse the sword into thinking he _was Sesshoumaru, if need be. And the sword wouldn't know the difference until it was once again in the real Sesshoumaru's hands." He frowned at the inu-youkai. "How could you let this happen?"_

Sesshoumaru growled defensively. "It wasn't as if I chose it to happen," he snapped. "But more to the point, we have to move quickly. The barrier spell is still in place on Tetsusaiga, so Teiya can't touch it. But sooner or later, Naraku will figure out a way to get his hands on that sword, and then he'll be invincible."

"Why?" Kagome asked.

"When the two fangs are combined," Shippou explained, "they create a force powerful enough to destroy almost any enemy. That was how Inu Yasha and Sesshoumaru were able to immobilize Naraku the first time, before he came back 500 years later."

"Only this time, we can't immobilize him," Flare said darkly. "We have to kill him. We have four parts of the Shikon no Tama. All we need is the last part." She looked at Sota, who seemed to have paled suddenly. "We need Inu Maia."  


	13. Reflections On Memories

**Inu Yasha: Future Nightmare**

**Chapter Thirteen: Reflections On Memories**

It was getting extremely late. The gentle hum of a computer and the rustling of pages seemed to be the only sounds in the Resistance headquarters. Flare was asleep on the couch, which was still pushed up against the wall. She had about an hour left to sleep before Kagome would wake her up and take her hour of rest. None of them had to worry about having trouble falling asleep - they were all exhausted. But they needed as many people as could be spared. 

Kagome pulled another photo album down from the den shelf and carried the stack into the living room. "Here are some of the older ones," she said, setting them down in front of Shippou. He closed the one he was looking through and set it on top of the growing pile by him. 

"The problem with these is that they aren't labeled," Shippou complained as he took one of the ones Kagome offered and opened it. "There's no way to know who's in them - most of these were salvaged from various Resistance members' homes after Naraku destroyed much of the outer city." 

"He's right," Sesshoumaru said, taking another photo album. "I don't even recognize some of the people in some of these." 

Sota spun around in his chair and looked away from the computer screen. "Well, we need a picture of her," he said. "I've got the enhancement program set up on the computer, but I need an actual picture to be able to see what she looks like."

"Is she…I don't even know what she looks like," Kagome sighed as she looked at the pictures in front of her. "I'm so afraid that I'm going to flip right past her or something." She turned the page, and suddenly laughed. "Oh my god! Sanji! I think I just found one of your baby pictures!" 

Sanji was by her in a flash and looking over her shoulder. He grinned ruefully. "Oh, yea. She found the picture where Kirara and I decided that I was going to take a bath in that old fountain by Kagome's school…remember that, Shippou?"

Shippou smirked. "I remember that Kagome - our Kagome - was mortified when she walked out of the building. But she took it in stride. She got you dried, clothed, and marched you right back to the shrine." 

"It's a good thing my father was home, and not my mother," Sanji said, shaking his head. "He just laughed it off. Mom wouldn't have been as pleased. Boy, I never did that again." 

"No, you figured out other ways to try our patience," Rin said, coming into the room with several cups of hot tea. 

"Sounds like you were an interesting kid," Kagome said, smiling at him.

"I was four!" Sanji protested. Then he paused. "Hey, keep going – if I'm not mistaken, Inu Maia's baby pictures should start popping up if this thing is in chronological order. I was just barely four when she was born." 

"You're right." Shippou took the album and began flipping through it more rapidly – or tried to. But on the next page was another picture that made him laugh. "Look! The Christmas party!" 

Sesshoumaru paled. "Give me that!" he ordered, reaching for the album.

Shippou held it out of reach. "I don't _think so!" he laughed. _

"What?" Kagome asked. 

Sota grinned. "The Christmas party. Sesshoumaru, Inu Yasha, Kouga, Flare and Teiya's first exposure to eggnog. It was hilarious. They may have conformed to modern times, but apparently they'd never had eggnog before. And they didn't realize that it was alcoholic, either." 

Sesshoumaru's face turned as red as his stripes as everyone, even Kagome, laughed. Shippou held up the offending pictures in question and passed them around. Kagome could immediately see why Sesshoumaru was so embarrassed – one of the pictures had him apparently acting out the balcony scene in Romeo and Juliet, only he was Juliet and Inu Yasha was Romeo. She couldn't help it - she started giggling and couldn't stop, not even when she ended up getting the hiccups. "How drunk _were you?"_

"Between the five of them," Rin said dryly, "we ended up having to restock on eggnog about three times that night - and we bought about three gallons each time. I never realized how much alcohol a youkai could actually handle before passing out."

"The hangovers were atrocious," muttered Sesshoumaru. 

"There should be a law against something that good behind that painful," a soft, hoarse voice spoke up.

The laughter cut to a stop. "Kouga!" Kagome said, turning around. There, standing in the entranceway between the hall and the room, stood the aforementioned wolf. Kagome was struck at how different he looked. He seemed to be having trouble just holding himself up right, and was using the wall as a crutch. His normally tan complexion was incredibly pale, but she could see some color in his cheeks, so he wasn't suffering from blood loss anymore. His tail hung limply, as if he lacked the strength even to hold that up. But what caught her attention the most were his eyes - they had lost their normal luster, and had darkened with sadness. 

"What are you doing?" Kouga asked as he stepped into the room. He sat down on the floor quietly next to Kagome, and looked at the pictures of the Christmas party that Shippou had spread out. 

"Just looking at some old pictures while we try to find as recent a photo as we can of Maia," Sanji said. He looked at his roommate. "How do you feel?"

"Better," was all Kouga said as he reached for one particular picture. He stared at it for a minute, then tucked it into his back pocket. Kagome caught a small glimpse before he put it away, and noticed that it was one of him and Teiya standing under a piece of mistletoe. She reached over and squeezed his hand comfortingly. He didn't react. 

"I think you need to go further," Kouga said after a moment. "Kagome was still pregnant at the party. Maia wasn't born until spring."

Shippou nodded and flipped through some more pages. An awkward silence had fallen over the group, and then…"JACKPOT!" Shippou suddenly shouted. 

"My ears," groaned Flare as she sat up and rubbed her eyes sleepily. "Thanks, Shippou. What was that all about?"

Shippou removed a picture from the photo album and put it in the middle of their raggedly formed circle. Sota pulled his chair away from the computer and leaned down. 

The picture was of a grinning Inu Yasha dressed in hospital scrubs, his white hair standing out against the green, his dog ears sticking awkwardly out of the cap they made him wear. He was standing in the middle of the waiting room, holding a pink bundle. "Three guesses who that is, and the first two don't count," Shippou said.

Kagome took the picture and stared at it, smiling slightly. The Inu Yasha in the picture looked so happy, so proud. So different from the Inu Yasha she knew. This Inu Yasha wasn't consumed with guilt over Kikyou, wasn't filled with anger over Naraku. 

"_That was just before I became human," a soft voice said over her shoulder._

Kagome jerked suddenly and spun around, finding herself face-to-face with a pair of transparent golden eyes. "What the hell?" she shouted, standing up and stumbling back. She tripped over Sanji's staff and fell onto Sesshoumaru's lap, but was too surprised to move. 

Inu Yasha straightened up. "_Sorry. I wanted to come see how everyone was doing."_

Shippou and Flare groaned again. "He's back." 

"Careless, otouto," chided Sesshoumaru as he helped Kagome back onto her feet. "I haven't told them about you yet." 

Inu Yasha looked apologetic. "_Sorry again. I was keeping out of sight, but when I realized that Shippou had found a picture of my daughter…" His voice trailed off. _

"You're a…a ghost, aren't you?" Kagome stammered. 

He nodded. 

She took a couple of deep breaths to calm herself. _You knew he was dead in this future, she scolded herself. __Don't you dare break down! Remember, this isn't your__ Inu Yasha. And you're going to change this future anyway. _

Inu Yasha stepped back and leaned against the wall. "_Would it be easier if you couldn't see me?" he asked, staring at Kagome. _

She noticed the slight hurt in his eyes, and also the concern as well. She nodded hesitantly. "Yes. It would. I can't…"

He smiled sadly. "_I understand." And then, just like that, he faded out of sight. _

"He's not gone," Sesshoumaru said. "He's just controlling his visibility. Shippou, are there any other pictures?"

Shippou nodded eagerly. "All of a sudden, somebody gets hyper with the camera. Look. Here's Maia in the hospital with Kagome, Maia coming home from the hospital, Maia's first trip to the park, Maia's first birthday…who took these pictures, anyway?"

Sesshoumaru raised his hand sheepishly. "He couldn't get enough of his niece," Flare said affectionately. "What's the most recent photo, Shippou?"

Shippou scanned the pictures, then removed one. "I'm not sure if it's the most recent, but it's the best one. Here." 

Sota took the picture, and Kagome looked over his shoulder at it. Her breath caught in her throat as she took in the smiling face of a smiling toddler. Inu Maia had dark black hair, the same shade as her own, but her eyes were a bright golden hue. What caught her attention the most was her ears, though - although black, they were obviously dog ears. "She's only one-fourth inu, though," Kagome said, perplexed. 

"That's why her coloring is black, not white," Sota replied. "But she inherited her father's ears. I don't think she got his hanyou power, though." 

"You're not sure?"

"She was three when we put her up for adoption," replied Rin softly. "There wasn't a chance to figure it out." 

"_Her blood was human," Inu Yasha's voice said from somewhere in the room. "__She had inu ears, but her blood was human. Except for the new moon." _

"That's right," Shippou said, remembrance dawning on him. "Like Inu Yasha would turn human on the new moon, Inu Maia would become a full hanyou. It was kind of funny - almost as if they had suddenly changed hair or something." 

Sota scanned the picture into the computer and immediately got to work. "Before I came underground with the Resistance," he told Kagome as he worked, "I worked with the police to do sketch composites of suspects. I expanded that into working with aging programs, to determine what a person would look like several years after a picture was taken." 

"It's been so long since any of us have even seen her that we have no idea what she looks like now," Flare said. "Do we know where she is?"

"She was sent to a foster family in Taiwan at first," Sota said. "I went underground shortly after that, and lost touch with the orphanage. But that would be the first place I'd look." 

"How long will that take?" Sanji asked. 

"Give me an hour," replied Sota, "and I'll have a fifteen-year-old Inu Maia Higurashi printed out for each of you." 

"You've disappointed me, Teiya." 

Teiya knelt before Naraku, head hanging low. "Forgive me, Master," she said dismally. 

Naraku looked hard at her. "All I did was tell you to kill that annoying wolf, and you couldn't even manage that. I don't ask much from you - why can't you just follow my instructions?"

"I tried, Master!" pleaded Teiya, looking up at him with pleading eyes. "Give me another chance! He's weakened now, he won't be able to defend himself. I just need to get him away from that damned Tajiya Houshi!" 

"You have the potential to be able to handle the wolf and the houshi both at once, Teiya," Naraku said darkly. "Very well. I will give you _one more chance. __Don't disappoint me. My intuition tells me that those two have gone into hiding, which will make it hard to track them down. While my scouts search for them, I want you to use the time to enhance your skills. Do you understand?"_

Teiya nodded. "Yes, Master." Then she cocked her head to one side. "Master."

"What?"

"I believe there is a new member of the Resistance," she replied. "A young girl, with long black hair. She seemed to radiate with a strange power. I think she might have been a miko." 

Naraku froze, and he narrowed his eyes. "Did you hear a name?"

Teiya touched her cheek thoughtfully. "I believe…Kagome. The Tajiya Houshi called her Kagome." 

Naraku covered his eyes with one hand and took a couple of deep breaths. "Get out."

"Master?"

"_GET OUT!" Naraku roared. Teiya yelped and dashed out of the throne room, slamming the door behind her. _

Naraku sat on his throne for a minute longer, perfectly silent. Then it was as if a storm had broken loose inside. Eyes flashing, he gestured with his arm, and several pieces of crystal that lined the room shattered into a thousand pieces. He rose from his seat and screamed as he threw the crystal shards at the walls, embedding them in place. "_K'SO!" he shouted. _

The doors flew open, and several of his lesser minions came in. "Naraku-sama, what is wrong?" one of them asked.

Naraku spun around and glared at them. With another gesture, he fired several of the shards at the minions, tearing them into pieces. 

This tirade went one for several more minutes, before he finally collapsed, exhausted, onto his throne once more. He waved his hand once, and Tensaiga appeared out of the thin air. It lowered itself into his lap and glowed slightly. "You still won't shine with the same light you did for him," Naraku said softly, stroking the blade. "But you will. And for now, all I need is for you to heal me. Heal me enough so that I can fight." 

He reached one hand up to his right shoulder, which throbbed with pain. Using his power out of anger had been a foolish move for him, but he hadn't been able to help it. The thought that that damned miko could be alive…it was impossible! He had killed her with his own hands. But not before she'd cursed him with her power. 

The wound had opened again, the wound that had been formed when she had attempted to seal him to the sacred tree, as her past life had done with Inu Yasha. If she hadn't already been weakened from the mortal wound that he had given her, she most likely would've succeeded. As it was, he had carried the scar of her arrow for nearly fifteen long years, and every day it drained more and more of his power. This was why he had sought out Tensaiga. Only the sword's healing power could keep him strong now. 

_I will not die! he thought furiously. __I will find a way to lift this curse she placed upon me, and then I will destroy every living thing she held dear! She will pay!_

They would all die. Sesshoumaru. Flare Takira. Sota Higurashi. Rin Higurashi. Kouga. Sanji Fujimiya. Shippou. They had all been there, when she had pierced him, when he had killed her, when Inu Yasha had attacked him and died in his folly. Seeing the Shikon no Tama again had been an added bonus, but he had long ago resigned himself to its loss. It had shattered again, and disappeared. 

But if Kagome Higurashi really was back from the dead, in some shape or form, then perhaps killing her companions wasn't the only thing he should do. Killing her would be poetic justice indeed. He had already killed her once…but that had been out of pure fun. This time it would be sweet revenge.

Yes. He would kill her. Kill her with his own two hands. 

But first he had to get strong. Much, much stronger than he already was. Then he would assume his rightful place as Youkai Master, instead of hiding and ruling from behind the scenes. 

Tensaiga glowed slightly, and Naraku looked down at it. "Are you reacting to something?" he murmured, stroking the blade again. "What are you reacting to, Tensaiga? Tetsusaiga? Sesshoumaru? Or something else?" He touched the hilt of the sword…

_FLASH!_

_A young girl, barely over a year old, laughing and chasing some sort of animal. She looked normal…but her ears…_

_FLASH!_

Naraku's eyes widened. He had actually, briefly, looked into the soul of the sword. He hadn't done that in ages. Some swords, the powerful ones like the twin fangs, held souls within them. Some youkai could look into the souls of these swords, and see their memories. Tensaiga was reacting to the memory of a girl with dark hair and inu ears…

Why? 

"That girl was familiar," he thought, frowning. "I've seen her some place before. I know I have." 

_But where?_

Flare leaned against the windowsill in one of the back rooms of the Resistance headquarters and looked out at the desolate, destroyed city that lay underneath the giant plate that the youkai had built over the ruins. She tucked a strand of white hair behind her ear and growled softly. So many people had lost their lives in the initial takeover. She had lost too many friends over the years. 

A pair of arms wrapped around her and pulled her against a hard chest. "What are you thinking about?" Sesshoumaru asked, tucking her head underneath his chin. 

Flare sighed and fingered the hand of his prosthetic. The only difference between it and his real arm was that it was a little smoother. "Just…things," she said softly. "You know…what might have happened if Naraku hadn't…"

Sesshoumaru tightened his hold on her. "Don't think about that," he said fiercely. "That bastard is going to pay for everything that he's done - count on it." 

Flare nodded and bit her lip. "I hope we find Maia. Not just because of the prophecy, but…well…I know how much you need an heir."

Sesshoumaru froze, then pulled away from her. "Flare…"

With his arm out of reach, Flare clutched the tip of her tail instead and began kneading it uneasy. "I mean, Maia _is a blood relation to your father, being Inu Yasha's daughter. By youkai law she can take over the Western Lands if anything…happens to you." She gripped her tail and struggled to find the right words. "I'm just glad that you came to terms with your brother or we'd…you'd be in real trouble."_

Sesshoumaru stood there quietly and waited for her to continue. 

"And…well, I know I've been something of a burden for you for the last few years," Flare whispered. "If it hadn't been for me, we wouldn't be having this problem right now. You'd have your heir, and…"

"Flare, we waited because we didn't want to bring a pup into a world where Naraku controlled everything," Sesshoumaru cut it, stopping her. "It's not your fault that you were injured." 

"Injured because I was too stubborn to listen to you," Flare said softly. She turned away from him and dropped one hand to her lower abdomen, where even through her shirt she could feel the puckered scar on her skin. "Face it, Sesshoumaru. You wanted to have pups years ago. I was the one who didn't want to be a mother." 

"And I respected that decision," Sesshoumaru said. "I don't blame you for anything, Flare. I thought you knew that." 

She shrugged. "I just can't help but feel like I've disappointed you somehow." 

Suddenly she found herself being spun around and pulled into a fierce embrace. "The only thing that disappoints me," he whispered into her hair, "is that you keep doubting yourself, and doubting my love for you." 

Tears sprang up in Flare's eyes. "Maru…"

"Whoops. Sorry." 

They looked up to see a very chagrined Kagome standing in the doorway. "I thought this room was empty," she said apologetically.

"Something wrong?" Sesshoumaru asked. 

She shook her head. "No. I was just looking for a place to lie down for awhile. I'm a little tired, and Sota's still a ways away from finishing with the photo update. I'll just go find another room." She half-turned, then hesitated slightly.

Flare pulled away from Sesshoumaru and looked at her carefully. "Are you sure nothing is wrong, Kagome?"

Kagome slowly turned back to them. "Actually…I was wondering if you explain something to me." 

Sesshoumaru's tail twitched in irritation, but Flare calmly took his hand, which seemed to calm him right down. "What is it?" she asked. 

"Naraku." Kagome stepped into the room and closed the door behind her. "From what I understand, he doesn't know the Shikon no Tama is still around in his this time."

"Right," Sesshoumaru said. "He saw it leave Inu Yasha, and then he saw it shatter. He doesn't know what happened to the pieces, and he doesn't know the prophecy."

"Then why is he after you?" Kagome asked. "Why did he send Teiya to kill Kouga? Kouga and Sanji were undercover – Naraku shouldn't have known about them. He shouldn't have known that Kouga was Keno. So…_how did he?" _

Sesshoumaru and Flare exchanged uneasy glances. "Kagome…Naraku's always known. It wasn't Naraku that Sanji and Kouga were undercover from, it was the rest of the youkai. None of us have been able to keep ourselves hidden from Naraku until we went underground. The only reason any of us were left alone by him was because he didn't perceive us a threat." 

"Why wouldn't he?" demanded Kagome. "And if he didn't, why would he change his mind?"

Sesshoumaru laughed bitterly. "Naraku thought of us as toys," he replied. "Myself, Teiya, Kouga, Flare, Shippou…we were all just little pawns for him in the grand scheme of things. The only ones he was truly concerned about were you, Inu Yasha, and Miroku. It was only when we started to seriously get on his nerves that he decided to go after us." 

"You two were undercover, too?" Kagome asked.

"The aboveground entrance used to be our home," replied Flare. "Sesshoumaru was a pretty prominent person in the youkai society - he had a lot of people fooled into thinking that his alliance with Inu Yasha was just a temporary lapse of judgment. Somehow, Naraku found out that Sesshoumaru was sabotaging the efforts to locate the fangs – even then, Naraku was after them. So he plotted his move."

"I got wind of it before it actually happened," Sesshoumaru replied, "and warned Flare to get underground. I was out of town at the time."

"I didn't listen," Flare said, wrapping her arms around her stomach. "I stayed in Tokyo, and Naraku's thugs - who were never traced to him, of course - came after me. They…I was badly injured." She shuddered at the memory. "If Sesshoumaru hadn't found me, I probably would have died." 

"But you're okay now?" Kagome asked. 

"Aside from the fact that I can never have children…yeah, I'm okay," Flare replied. "But that's not what you were looking for, was it?" 

Kagome looked at her, then asked, "He's that bad?"

"He's that bad," replied Sesshoumaru. 

"So you were trying to stop him from finding Tensaiga and Tetsusaiga," Kagome said. "Why is he after them?"

They both shrugged. "We're not really certain," Flare said. "What we do know is this – Naraku himself hasn't shown his face in several years. He rules with an iron fist, but it's all from behind the scenes. No one has seen him." 

"Before you - she - died, Kagome hit him with a fairly powerful purification arrow," Sesshoumaru said. "Now, we're not entirely sure, but we think that arrow did some damage. And according to what Miroku said before he died, it's very possible that the effects of the arrow could have long-term effects."

"In other words, Naraku might be dying," Flare said. 

Kagome's eyes widened. "That's a good thing, right?"

"Right," Sesshoumaru said, managing a slight smile at the hopeful look on her face. "But he's got Tensaiga now. So even if he _is dying, that sword will keep him alive. And if he gets Tetsusaiga, he could get enough power that the wound the arrow might have caused would be insignificant."_

"So that's why it's urgent that we find Maia," Kagome said, "and give her Tetsusaiga to keep it out of his hands. Right?"

"Right," Flare and Sesshoumaru said. 

There was a knock on the door, and Kagome stepped to one side as it opened. Shippou stuck his head in. "There you are!" he said. "We were wondering what happened to you. Sota just finished the photo updates, so it's now or never, everyone. We're getting down to the wire now."

Sesshoumaru looked at Kagome and Flare. "Come on," he said softly. "We've got a hanyou to track down." 


	14. Right Under Their Noses

**Inu Yasha: Future Nightmare**

**Chapter Fourteen: Right Under Their Noses**

"Well?" Sesshoumaru asked as they returned to the living room, Flare, Kagome, and Shippou right behind him. "What do you have?"

Sota pulled a piece of paper out of the printer and handed it to the youkai lord. "This." 

Sesshoumaru looked at the picture in his hand, and a smirk curled on his otherwise impassive face. "Well, if we ever need to bluff, all we'd have to do it put some ears on Kagome's head." 

"What?" Kagome snatched the paper out of his hand. "Let me see!" 

The girl that looked up from the paper was, while clearly altered by computers, also clearly related to Kagome. The resemblance was certainly striking, Kagome had to admit. She could see what Sesshoumaru had meant by saying all they had to do was give her fake dog ears. Aside from her golden eyes and dog ears, which she had clearly gotten from her father, Inu Maia could have been Kagome's twin sister. 

"That's Maia?" Shippou asked, looking down at his own copy of the picture. "Not, um, what I was expecting." A light blush tinged his cheeks, and he glanced around to make sure that nobody had noticed. The only person looking in his direction was Kouga, and all he did was raise his eyebrows. Shippou shrugged, then glared at him. 

Sota finished handing everyone a copy of the picture, and returned to his seat by the computer. "Okay. Here's what we know – Maia was taken to Taiwan to be put up for adoption when she was about three. That was six months after her parents were killed." 

"Why Taiwan?" Shippou asked. He had been gone by that point. 

"It wasn't crawling with youkai who were loyal to Naraku," Kouga explained. "Sota and I were the ones who took her there, so I remember that nobody thought twice about her being a hanyou - or half-hanyou." 

Sota nodded. "Right. In fact, I remember the social worker who took her commenting that if they needed to, they'd just stick a hat on her head and cover up her ears. That particular orphanage specialized in hanyou and mixed-breed children - children who would've normally had trouble being raised by their biological parents. I kept in touch with the orphanage for about a year, but then I had to sever contact when Rin and I had to come to the Underground. I never regained that contact." 

"So our first clue is Taiwan," Flare said, nodding thoughtfully. "How many of us are going?" 

"Everyone," Sesshoumaru said immediately. 

Sanji looked at him sharply. "Isn't that a little dangerous?" 

"Normally, yes," Sesshoumaru admitted. "But look at it this way - our cover here in Tokyo is going to get eradicated very shortly. You and Kagome weren't exactly discreet getting Kouga here, Sanji – not that any of us would have done anything different. But sooner or later Naraku's going to catch wind of where we are, and we need to be gone by then. What better place than Taiwan?"

"Sounds good to me, Sesshoumaru-sama," Rin said, nodding at her adopted father's words. "But how are we all supposed to get to Taiwan without Naraku finding out?"

Sesshoumaru looked at Flare and Kouga expectantly. The two siblings frowned at him, then glanced at each other, and then…

"No way!" Kouga exclaimed as he suddenly realized what Sesshoumaru was planning. "You can't be serious!" 

"Maru, it's impossible," snapped Flare. "It's a secret!" 

"We don't have any other choice," Sesshoumaru said firmly. "The wolf clan's ancient method of teleportation is our only hope. It's the only way to have us get from here to Taiwan without tipping off any of Naraku's spies. Any other way would make us too visible." 

"But…but Mother…" Flare stammered, her fists clenched at her sides. "I promised…" 

Kouga looked at Flare with contempt. "Like half-breed promises mean anything," he spat. "It's a wolf's trick, and should be used for wolf's only. I _still can't believe Mother would teach a tainted blood like you…" _

"Kouga!" Kagome gasped, shocked that he would speak so harshly, and to his own sister, no less. 

Flare's temper had flared up at those words, however, and she was facing her brother with fire in her eyes. "I _dare you to stay that again, to my face!" she snarled. "After all these years, and you __still don't consider me worthy to be your sister! And if you're one to talk - you, who can't even avenge the slaughter of your pack! At least I __fight Naraku - instead of sneaking around him!" _

Kouga's eyes widened, and he growled low in his throat. "Bitch," he growled. And with one sleek move, he lunged at her, fangs and claws flashing. 

"_Kitsune bi!" A bright blue flame shot up between Kouga and Flare, causing both of them to fall back to opposite sides of the room. Shippou moved to replace his foxfire, and glared at Sesshoumaru. "Smart move." _

Sesshoumaru merely shrugged at looked at Flare and Kouga. "Well?" 

"No," Flare and Kouga said, shaking their heads. They were still glaring at each other angrily.

Kagome leaned over and whispered to Sanji, "How can Kouga act like this? Flare saved his life only a few hours ago!" 

Sanji shook his head. "Kouga never completely got over his mother abandoning him and his father for a half-wolf, half-inu. And Flare showed up at the worst possible moment - right after Naraku had just slaughtered most of the wolves in the West Pack. Tensions have always been pretty high between the two - and they got worse when Flare married Sesshoumaru. It's complicated." 

"Don't talk about things that don't concern you behind my back, Sanji," snarled Kouga. 

"Don't talk to him like that," Flare shot back. 

"You stay out of this."

"Why? He's my friend, too." 

"As if someone like you could ever have any _true friends." _

"Why you --!" Flare straightened up to her full height – a total of about five feet and three inches – and clenched her fists. When she opened her hands, glistening claws had suddenly extracted from her fingers. 

Rin stood up. "_Vemonius Eradicate!" _

Flare clutched her hands in pain, doubling over so that she was nearly lying on the ground. Sesshoumaru glanced at Rin, who nodded, and then hurried over to his mate. Kouga was staring at her, uncertain and no longer looking quite as pissed. Kagome stared at Rin in surprise. 

"What was that?" she asked Rin. 

Rin took a few deep breaths to steady herself. "A spell," she replied. "It's designed to be used by priestesses against inu-youkai. You taught it to me."

Kagome stared at her. "_I did?"_

"Well, you're future self," Rin replied. "And in turn, Kikyou and Kaede taught it to you." 

"Is she okay?" Shippou asked. 

Flare was whimpering softly, but Sesshoumaru nodded. "It'll take awhile for the spell to wear off, but she'll be fine," he said. "Her poison claw is already so berserk – thank you, Rin."

Rin nodded. 

Sesshoumaru stood up and faced Kouga. Kouga took a few steps back at the expression on the older demon's face. The last time he'd look like that…well, it had been when Naraku's servants had attacked Flare. And they hadn't looked too good once Sesshoumaru had been done with them.

"Listen to me, wolf," Sesshoumaru said dangerously. "We don't have time for your damn self-righteous mood-swings. Flare is your sister, get over it, and get over yourself. I know you're hurting about Teiya – we all are – but we can't afford to end up getting pissed at each other. We need everyone to find Maia, which includes you. 

"As for the Transport Gate, fuck the wolves. If they had decided to share that particular feat with other youkai, maybe we'd have more of a Resistance built up against Naraku. And your damn foolish rules about using it - where did it get your pack? You're the last of the wolf-youkai aside from Teiya, and if you don't get your head out of the clouds and realize it, we're going to end up losing a lot in this battle. There isn't going to be any of your little friends to carry on the fight for you – you're _it, Prince. _

"So you're going to do exactly three things, starting now. The first is that you're going to start acting more civil to Flare - she's the only family you've got, and you should be thankful for her. The second is that you're going to use the Transport Gate to get us all to Taiwan - I forbid Flare to break her promise to her mother, but you're under no such obligation. And the third is that from Taiwan, you're going to immediately use to Gate to go to Australia, where you're on permanent guard duty until otherwise needed." 

Kouga stared at him, openmouthed. "_Guard duty?!" he yelped. "For who?!" _

"Kohaku Fujimiya," Sesshoumaru replied, and Sanji looked at him in surprise. "Myouga-jiji is already on his way there, and you can take Kirara with you. I don't want any youkai getting near that boy until we've got Maia. Understood?" 

Kouga looked ready to fight other this, but Kagome had already figured out that Sesshoumaru was pretty much in charge of the Resistance – and the Resistance was the only thing Kouga had left. There was definitely some underlying tension, however, and Kagome couldn't help but wonder what it was. 

Kouga glanced around the room, and the unsmiling faces of his companions, then at Flare. "I…" Catching Kagome's eyes, he hung his head and looked at the floor. "I understand," he said softly.

Sesshoumaru nodded curtly. "Good. Now get to it." 

Kouga turned away from the group and faced a blank wall on the far side of the room. He closed his eyes and lifted his arm to point his hand, palm out, at the wall. Around him, his youki began to whirl and become visible, even to the humans who couldn't normally see it. It pulsated and swirled, going from a light reddish tone to a bright blue in a matter of minutes. 

The youki began to separate itself from Kouga, forming a swirling cylindrical mass in front of him. The cylinder turned on its side, the circular top parting and opening into a gateway. Energy crackled around the dark void inside the youki, and Kouga opened his eyes and stepped back. "It's ready," he said. "Go in. It'll stay open until I go in." 

Sesshoumaru knelt next to Flare and helped her up, although the spell had already begun to fade. "You first," he said, nodding to Sota. 

Sota turned towards Rin, who had ducked out briefly, and took a bow and a quiver of arrows from her. She had another set in her hands, too, which she handed to Kagome as Sota stepped through the gateway first. Rin smiled at Kagome, then picked up the last item she had grabbed – a leather case – and followed her Sota. 

"I'll go next, and you follow," Sanji said to Kagome. "Kirara!" 

Kirara leaped into his arms, and he picked up his staff and went through the gateway easily. Kagome stood in front of it and took a deep breath. "It's safe?" she asked Shippou, who was standing behind her. 

Shippou nodded, smiling encouragingly. "It's been awhile since I used but one…but yeah, it's safe." He stepped up next to her and held out his hand. "I'll go in with you, if you want."

Kagome took his hand and nodded. Steeling herself, she allowed Shippou to lead her through the gateway. 

It was an unbelievable rush of power. She felt like she was being absorbed by the youki that the gateway was made out of, and found herself surrounded by darkness, yet knew she was being moved at an incredible speed. At the same time, even though she couldn't see him, she knew Shippou was still with her. 

Then there was light, and the feeling was gone as she felt her feet land on solid ground. 

Shippou grabbed her arm and pulled her to the side. "Watch out!" His warning came none too soon as Sesshoumaru and Flare came stumbling out of the gateway right behind them. Kouga followed a few seconds later, and the youki immediately rewrapped itself around him. 

Kagome looked around. They were in the middle of the busy street, but nobody seemed to be paying any attention to them. There were no cars – she hadn't seen many of vehicles since arriving in the future anyway – but there were a lot of people. "Nobody noticed us?" she asked Sota. 

Sota shrugged. "If they did, they don't care. In Taiwan people have a tendency to stay out of other people's business unless they can't help it."

Sesshoumaru looked at Kouga. "How much time do you need?"

"If I'm just transporting myself?" he asked. "None." He held out his hand to Sanji, who released his hold on Kirara. The feline demi-youkai leaped into Kouga's arms instead. Kagome saw the moving youki again, briefly this time, and then Kouga and Kirara vanished.

"It takes more effort to transport others," Flare said. "Where's the orphanage, Sota?"

Sota motioned down the street. "Follow me." 

The orphanage was located down a side street of the main road that they had arrived on, and Kagome could immediately see why Sota and Sesshoumaru had chosen this place to leave Maia so many years earlier. While it looked incredibly decrepit and nearly abandoned on the outside, inside it was as cheerful and welcoming as the Resistance headquarters. The windows were all boarded up – probably to keep prying eyes out – but it was lit up with artificial light. 

The group stepped inside, and were immediately approached by the girl at the reception counter. "Can I help you?" she asked. Kagome was surprised to see the tiger-stripped skin of the girl, and the ears and tail to match. Her eyes were also feline, and instead of nails, she had perfectly trimmed claws. The girl noticed Kagome staring at her, and tilted her head to one side. "What? Never seen a hanyou before?" There was a defensive tone to her words. 

"She has," Sota cut in before Kagome could say anything. "But she wasn't expecting to see any others. Are you the manager of the orphanage?"

"No," the girl said, shaking her head. "I'm only twelve. I live here. Kai Shung is the manager." 

"Could we speak to her?" Sota asked.

"Hold on." She reached for the small intercom on the desk, and pressed a button. "Ms. Shung? Someone is here to see you." 

"_Does he have an appointment, Miyu?" _

Miyu looked at Sota, who shook his head. "No, he doesn't." 

"_What's his name?"_

"Higurashi Sota," Sota said automatically. 

There was a pause. Then…"_Send them in, Miyu." _

The intercom clicked off, and Miyu pointed down a corridor. "Straight down to your left," she said. "It's the only visible door. Don't bother knocking, or she'll probably tear your throat out." 

Kagome glanced uneasily at Sota, but he didn't seemed to be phased by the warning. "What type of orphanage is this?" she whispered to Sanji.

"A very safe one, apparently," Sanji whispered back. 

They found the door with very little trouble, and Sota opened the door. "Kai Shung?" he asked. 

"Come in." 

They stepped inside, and a tall woman stood up from her desk to greet them. She was obviously a full youkai, this was obvious by her ears, but what type of youkai was hard to tell. She had the eyes of an inu, but the hair color was wrong, and she lacked the correct markings and tail. Her tail was more like a kitsune, but again the wrong color, black, which suggested more of a feline breeding. Her markings were feather-like patterns, clearly avian, but the gills on her neck suggested aquatic abilities. She was a mixed-breed, but even more of a mixed-breed than Flare. 

"Have a seat." Kai Shung stepped out from behind her desk, her tail hooked over her arm, and crossed to the front of it before sitting down on the top. "You're looking well, Sota." 

"So are you, Kai," Sota said, nodding. "But you know that this isn't a pleasure visit." 

"I suspected as much," Kai replied. "Well? Did you bring me another ward?"

"Actually, I came to find the one that I placed with you previously," Sota replied. "My niece, Inu Maia." 

Kai's eyes widened. "This is an unexpected occurrence. Usually children are placed with us for permanent adoption, and you never gave any indication that you ever wanted her back."

"Is that a problem?" Sesshoumaru asked sharply.

She looked uncomfortable. "Well…adoptions are final," she said. "And since we have to make it very hard for some of these children to be placed - have to make it seem like their adopted parents are their biological parents - we don't keep many records."

"You're saying you don't know where she is," Sota said softly. 

"We placed her approximately ten years ago," replied Kai. "We did a thorough background check on the couple, and they met every requirement you had, and then she left."

"Do you know where the couple live?" Sesshoumaru asked, a pleading note in his tone.

Kai looked at him, and her eyes narrowed slightly. "You're Lord Sesshoumaru," she said. "You work for the Youkai."

"No," Sota said before Sesshoumaru responded. "Maybe that's what it seemed like, but Sesshoumaru is against Naraku. He's Maia's biological uncle on her father's side." 

"I see," Kai said, nodding. She looked around the room, and then she suddenly frowned. "What's your name?" 

She was pointing at Sanji.

"Um, Sanji Fujimiya, ma'am," Sanji said hesitantly.

Kai narrowed her eyes. "You wouldn't, by any chance, be related to Miroku Fujimiya?"

"He was my father," Sanji said, his eyes growing downcast. 

"Sango Fujimiya was your mother?" Kai asked. 

"Yes."

To everyone's great shock, Kai threw back her head and laughed. "I don't _believe it!" _

"What?" Sota asked, leaning forward. "Does it have anything to do with Maia?"

"It has everything to do with Maia," Kai replied. "She was adopted by a young Taijiya woman - whose sister happens to be the mother of the grandson of Miroku and Sango Fujimiya!" 


	15. Retrieval

**Inu Yasha: Future Nightmare**

**Chapter Fifteen: Retrieval**

_Knock, knock!_

"Mama, there's someone at the door!" 

Kouga heard the young voice call out from somewhere in the house, and wondered how he managed to get himself caught in these messes. He couldn't understand why _he was the one who had to baby-sit the younger Fujimiya - but he also knew that there wasn't a snowball's chance in hell of getting out of it._

The door opened a crack, and a pair of dark eyes peered out. "Who are you?" the same young voice from before asked.

Kouga knelt down so that he was eye-to-eye with the little boy. "I'm a friend of your father's," he said. "Is your mother home?"

"Are you a stranger?" 

_Well, at least he's being taught to be cautious, Kouga thought wryly. "No," he said. "I'd like to speak with your mother."_

"She's busy," Kohaku said. "What's your name?"

Suddenly there was a soft cry, and Kirara poked her head out of Kouga's jacket. "Oh!" Kouga exclaimed. "I almost forgot about you." He unzipped his coat to let the demi-youkai out, and Kirara bounded over to Kohaku and leaped onto his shoulder. The four-year-old giggled when Kirara licked his cheek a couple of times. 

"I know you!" Kohaku said, laughing. "I've seen you in pictures!"

"Kohaku? Who's at the door - oh!" 

Kouga straightened up to look at Diana. "You haven't changed much," he told the young Taijiya. "It's cold out here."

"Oh - of course." Diana hurried forward and undid the security chain to open the door all the way, letting Kouga into the house. "Kouga, right?" 

"Right," Kouga said, nodding. "Sesshoumaru sent me to keep an eye on Kohaku."

"So it's getting serious?" asked Diana. She looked down at her son. "Kohaku, take Kirara into the other room and show her around."

"'Kay!" Kohaku hurried out of the hallway, calling over his shoulder, "Come on, Kirara! I'll show you my games!" 

Diana led Kouga into the living room and motioned for him to take a seat. "So," she said after a moment, "what's the situation?"

"We've found four out of the five pieces of the Shikon no Tama," Kouga replied. "Right now, Sanji and the others are in Taiwan looking for leads to find the fifth piece - Inu Yasha's daughter." 

"Inu Yasha had a daughter?' Diana asked, surprised. "I never knew that."

"She was put up for adoption before you met Sanji," Kouga replied. "None of us have had any contact with her for the last ten years." 

"How sad," murmured Diana. "Poor thing, losing her parents at such a young age. What does she look like?"

Kouga sighed. "That's the tough part," he said. "All the pictures we had stopped at a certain age, so Sota Higurashi - her uncle on her mother's side - was forced to use a computer to age her. We're not sure how accurate the picture really is, especially considering how easy it is to change one's appearance nowadays."

Diana nodded. "Do you have a picture?"

He reached into his pocket. "Here." 

Diana took the picture from Kouga, and looked down at it. Her eyes widened, and her tanned skin suddenly went several shades paler. "What is it?" Kouga asked worriedly. "Are you okay? Are you sick?"

"N-no," Diana said, shaking her head. "It's nothing like that. It's…well, this may sound incredibly stupid, but what would you say if I told you that I knew this girl?"

Kouga stared at her. "What?"

"I know her," Diana said. "You see, several years ago my older sister found out she couldn't have any children. Around that time, there were a lot of orphans showing up, because of the Youkai raids on the cities, so she decided to adopt one of the orphans. She ended up going to an orphanage in Taiwan, where she found a hanyou child who'd been there for awhile. No one else would adopt her, so my sister took her in."

The wolf's jaw dropped. "You mean…you've known where this girl is the whole time, and you never told Sanji?!" 

"I never knew she was Inu Yasha's daughter!" Diana said defensively. "Sanji never told me such a person existed. And I never met Kagome Higurashi, so I never made the physical connection. And the fact that she had black hair never once made me think she was a white dog, anyway." 

"She's got white hair during the new moon," Kouga growled. "Didn't you see it then?"

"I've never seen her during the new moon," Diana replied. "Angelina's not stupid - she's a Taijiya, too. She and her husband know about hanyou weak points, and wouldn't take any chances." 

"Well, for Maia, it's not really a weak point…never mind," Kouga said, waving his hand. 

"Precisely. Right now, the most important thing is contacting Sesshoumaru." 

"YAH!" Kouga nearly jumped ten feet in the air at the sound of the voice that seemed to be coming from somewhere near his neck. Then he felt an uncomfortable itch, and automatically swatted at that spot. He watched as a squashed flea floated unceremoniously off his neck and onto the couch. "Oh, hi, Myouga-jiji." 

Myouga returned to his normal, unflattened state and jumped back onto Kouga's shoulder. "What are you waiting for, Kouga? You should be contacting Sesshoumaru right now. I would have done it as soon as I discovered that Inu Maia-sama was here, but…"

"But you didn't want to draw danger to yourself," Kouga growled. "You _knew she was here? Myouga, you don't have the same excuse Diana does." _

Myouga gulped. "It really wasn't like that! Look, just contact Sesshoumaru." 

"And how, exactly, should I do that?" 

"Doesn't Sesshoumaru have a phone?" Myouga asked.

"Do you honestly think Sesshoumaru would carry a cell phone around with him if he's constantly on the run from the youkai?" Kouga demanded. "The Resistance has one, I repeat, _one cell phone - and I have it!" He removed his phone from his pocket and held it up for the flea to see. "I wasn't expecting to find out where Maia was while I was here - I was just supposed to keep an eye on Kohaku and Diana. Which means we have to wait until Sesshoumaru and the others arrive." _

At that precise moment, the phone rang. 

Diana casually plucked it out of Kouga's hand and answered it. "Hello?" she asked, glancing out of the corner of her eye to look at Kouga and Myouga. "Hi, Sanji."

Kouga stood up and held out his hand for the phone. "Please?" he added as an afterthought.

Diana handed him the phone.  

"Sanji!" Kouga said, his voice a little more desperate than he'd wanted. "You need to get here as soon as possible…you won't believe what I just found out…"

"_Oh, so you already know about Maia?" _

Kouga paused. "Oh? You found out?"

"_The woman running the orphanage was very helpful once she found out exactly who Maia and Sesshoumaru were," Sanji said. "__We'll be there shortly - Flare's agreed to provide transportation, so you don't have to come and get us. How is Kohaku?"_

"He's playing with Kirara," Kouga replied. 

"_Is he okay?"_

"He's fine."

Sanji breathed a sigh of relief. "_Thank God. Listen, Sesshoumaru wants to talk to you, so I better hand over the phone…hey, wait a second! You don't have to take the receiver out of my haaaaaaand!"_

"_Kouga?"_

Kouga tensed up at Sesshoumaru's voice. "Yes, sir?" he asked, his tone clipped. 

"_Don't be like that, Kouga," Sesshoumaru said, his voice weary. "__We both lost our tempers - and we can't afford to let it get the better of us. I've got a favor to ask you while you're waiting for us."_

"What?"

"_Could you go find Maia? I'd feel a lot better if someone who knew what was going on was near her. Diana will probably know where she is."_

"I won't let anything happen to her," Kouga said. "I'll find her." 

"_Arigatou. __Well…ja ne, Kouga."_

"Ja ne," Kouga said, pressed the OFF button on the phone. He slid it back into his pocket and looked at Diana. "I need your sister's address."

"You also need a way to get there," Diana replied. "I guarantee that showing up looking like a youkai won't help - Angelina has no problem with hanyou's, but she absolutely despises purebloods. Just let me get Kohaku ready, and I'll drive you over to her house." 

"Dear? Are you awake yet?"

A pair of black inu ears twitched, and the pile of blankets shifted around on a bed. "Mmm."

"Is that a yes, or a no?"

"Mmm-mmm."

Angelina Dubret sighed and leaned against the frame of her daughter's bedroom door. "Maia, you do know that you've got a date with Harrison later, right? In about…an hour, actually."

The being underneath the pile of blankets suddenly shot up into a sitting position, and Maia Dubret stared at her mother with wide eyes. "An hour?" she gasped. "Why didn't you wake me up _earlier?!" _

Angelina laughed. "I did. And, actually, you've still got a few more hours. I just said that to get you up."

Maia, who had begun to dig through her closet, suddenly stopped and glared at her mother. "You have a really messed up sense of humor, Mama," she said shrewdly.

Angelina just smiled at the thirteen-year-old hanyou. Despite the fact that she had to be locked in the house during the new moon and that she was a fierce believer in hats, Maia really was just another teenager. And in the last year, she had already managed to collect a rather large following. Normally, Angelina would be worried about all the attention from the opposite gender, but Maia definitely knew how to take care of herself. 

"Be downstairs in half an hour and I'll make you breakfast," Angelina said. "With your father out of town, our eating habits are going to go out the window, you realize."

"Of course," Maia said, grinning. "I'll be down soon." 

Angelina left the bedroom and walked down to the kitchen. She checked the refrigerator to see what she had, and relieved that there were enough eggs for omelets that morning. Maia was the cook in the family, but she didn't indulge in that particular habit very often. Fortunately, Angelina knew at least enough to make omelets. 

It was while she was breaking the eggs that the doorbell rang. 

Angelina frowned - it was too early for it to be Maia's date, but she wasn't expecting anyone else. Wiping her hands off on a towel, she hurried to the door and pulled it open. 

"Diana?" Angelina blinked at the sight of her younger sister standing on her porch. "What are you doing here?" 

"It's complicated," Diana said. "Can we come in?"

It was then that Angelina noticed that not only had Diana brought Kohaku with her, but that Kohaku seemed to have a new pet, and there was a tall man standing behind Diana as well. Angelina stepped aside and let them in. 

"Where's Maia?" Kohaku asked sweetly, looking up at his aunt.

"Upstairs," Angelina said absently - the look on Diana's face was making her worry.

"K. Come on, Kirara - let's go see Maia!" The little boy climbed up the stairs, the two-tailed demi-demon leaping up behind him. 

Angelina invited Diana and her companion into the kitchen. "Eggs?" she offered. 

"Thanks," Diana said. "We didn't have a chance to eat this morning - I'm sorry I didn't call, Ange. It's been an unusual morning."

"That's all right, Di," Angelina said as she went back to the omelets. "Um…if you don't mind my asking, who's your friend?"

Diana glanced at the man uneasily. "This is…his name is Kouga." 

Angelina tensed, then slowly turned to look at her sister. "Di…please tell me it's a different Kouga." 

"It's the same," the man named Kouga said, ignoring Diana's glare, "if the Kouga you're talking about it the prince of the wolf youkai." As he spoke, he dismissed the glamour and returned to his normal appearance. 

Angelina glared at her sister. "You brought a…a _youkai into my house! With my daughter!" _

"She's not  your daughter," Kouga said. 

He didn't flinch when the older Tajiya fixed a death glare on him. "What the hell do you mean, she's not my daughter?" she spat.

"You adopted her," Kouga replied. "While you raised her, you did not give birth to her. She's not your daughter. And her uncle is on his way to claim her."

"Kouga!" Diana said reproachfully. "I was hoping to break it to her a little more gently.

Kouga frowned at Diana. "We don't have time to beat around the bush. I thought you understood."

"Diana," Angelina said, her face pale, "what the hell is he talking about?"

Diana groaned. "It's like this, Ange - Maia was up for adoption ten years ago, when she was three. You know that - you adopted her from Taiwan. Now her uncle has discovered where she is, and he's coming to claim her." 

"Absolutely not," Angelina said, eyes flashing. "If he waited ten years, he's got no right to her."

"You're going to tell _him that?" Kouga asked bluntly. He laughed humorlessly. "I'd like to see you try."_

"What's that mean?" Angelina demanded.

"Just that if _I'm scared of him sometimes, he's not going to feel too threatened by __you," Kouga replied. "And don't get all high-and-mighty like so many Taijiya have. No one's managed to kill Sesshoumaru yet, and I doubt you will." _

Angelina gasped and gripped the counter, omelets forgotten. "Sesshoumaru? _The Sesshoumaru, of the Western Lands? Inutaisho's oldest son?" _

"He's Maia's biological uncle," Diana said gently, standing up and placing a hand on her sister's arm. "She's the daughter of Inu Yasha and Kagome Higurashi."

The two sisters stared at each other, Diana consolingly, Angelina in disbelief. 

Kouga drew in a deep breath and stood to look at the older woman. "Sesshoumaru will be here shortly," he said, his tone suddenly soft and subdued. "Please, we don't want to cause you any more grief than necessary. Maia is our only chance at defeating Naraku. Now, I really need to speak to –" 

He was cut off by a piercing scream from upstairs. 

"Maia!" Angelina shouted. 

Kouga raced out of the kitchen and paused at the bottom of the stairs, a familiar scent suddenly assaulting his senses. _No…_

_Teiya!_


	16. Return to Sanity

**Inu Yasha: Future Nightmare**

**Chapter Sixteen: Return to Sanity**

Maia grabbed Kohaku and pulled him towards her, away from the wolf youkai that had just launched herself through the bedroom window. Kohaku gripped Kirara tightly, trembling in Maia's grasp. 

The youkai rose from her landing crouch and stood up, shaking broken pieces of glass off of her body. Her tail flicked and she turned to face the two in the room, a confident smirk on her face. "So _you're the brat," Teiya said, twisting a piece of gray-white hair around her finger. "Sorry for barging in like this, but I'm sure my Lord Naraku will be very pleased when I bring your body to him." Her tone implied that she was anything but sorry._

Maia shoved Kohaku behind her and stood in front of him protectively. "Get out!" she shouted. "Get out of my room!"

Teiya laughed. "Is that the best you can do?" She locked her gaze onto Maia's, and suddenly the younger girl felt a chill run through her. 

_What is this?! Maia thought in alarm. __I…I can't move!_

Teiya flexed her hands, and sharp claws extended from her fingertips. With a snarl, she launched at the inu-hanyou, murder glinting in her eyes. 

An enraged howl pierced the air, and suddenly Teiya was being hurled through the same broken window she'd come in through. She hit the ground and rolled away from her attacker, springing nimbly to her feet the minute her momentum had slowed enough.

"You!" Teiya stared at Kouga, who was standing several feet away, his owns claws ready to fight and his stance backing them up. His blue eyes were flashing, and he didn't take his eyes off of her once. "How can you still be alive?"

"Surprise," Kouga snarled. He took a step forward, and Teiya suddenly had the feeling that this was not going to be as easy a fight as it had been last time. 

In the house, Maia and Kohaku, along with Angelina and Diana, had rushed to the window. "Mama, what's going on?" Maia demanded, looking at Angelina. "Who is that?" 

Something jumped off of Diana's shoulder and onto Maia's. Maia stared in surprise at the flea-youkai that promptly took a bite out of her. She reached up and slapped him, then watched as he floated onto the floor. 

"Myouga-jiji, stop eating," Diana said sternly. Then she flashed Maia a smile. "Don't worry. As long as Myouga is around, we know it's safe." 

"What's going on?" Maia demanded as she watched the two wolf youkai below suddenly spring at each other. Their speed and agility made it hard to keep track of the battle, but Maia was able to get the gist of it. "Who is that? What does she want?"

"That is Teiya Renee," the flea called Myouga said once he'd reperched on Maia's shoulder. "She is an assassin under the control of the Youkai Lord Naraku - the sworn enemy of your mother and father, Inu Maia-sama."

"Inu Maia?" Maia repeated. "But my name is just Maia." She looked at Angelina. "Mama?"

"Your name is Inu Maia Higurashi," Myouga-jiji replied. "You are the rightful heir to the Western Lands as proclaimed by your uncle, Sesshoumaru-sama. You are also the rightful heir to the Fang Tetsusaiga, which was crafted from the fangs of your grandfather and your father. In addition, you have the blood of mikos running through you, making you very strong indeed." 

Maia stared at him. "I think you've got the wrong hanyou."

"Maia," Diana said softly, "it's no joke. That man down there is Kouga, lord of the wolf youkai. He was sent here by Sesshoumaru to protect you, which is just what he's doing." 

Maia stared at her, then shook her head slowly. "Mama?" she whispered. "This isn't real - right? Tell them they've got the wrong person. Be-because if Sesshoumaru is my biological uncle, then my father would have to be…" 

"Inu Yasha-sama," Myouga-jiji said solemnly. "A truly brave warrior, worthy of being a son of Inutaisho. He is your true father, Inu Maia-sama – just as Kagome Higurashi is your true mother."

At that precise moment, Kohaku let out a shout. Everyone looked out the window in time to see Kouga land a swift kick in Teiya's lower back, knocking the female youkai to the ground. She tried to pull herself up, but her wind had been knocked out by the force of the blow, and she crumpled to the ground. 

Kouga drew in several deep breaths as he approached Teiya's fallen form. Anyone who didn't know him would think he was completely in control, but the truth was, it had taken all of his strength not to run to his mate's side the minute she'd fallen. Fighting her had been the only option, and in the heat of the battle he could lose himself and forget about everything - but once the fighting stopped, his heart would always take over from his mind. 

Nevertheless, he was cautious when he knelt down beside her and rolled her over. She was still conscious, curled up in a fetal position as she struggled to retrieve her breath. She succeeded a minute later, then let out a snarl as she tried to pull her arm out of Kouga's grasp. Kouga tightened his hold on her and pinned her to the ground. 

"Teiya," he said, his voice low and dangerous. "Teiya, listen to me. Whatever Naraku has done to you, you must fight it. I know you can do it. You have to remember."

"What are you muttering about?!" Teiya sneered, struggling relentlessly. _He's strong! she thought has his hands merely tightened on her shoulders. Something about the sensation seemed familiar, but she brushed it off. She couldn't lose track of her priorities, and her current priority was getting away from this wolf and taking out the daughter of Inu Yasha and Kagome. _

"Does Naraku know about Inu Maia?" Kouga whispered. 

"He will," Teiya hissed. "I'll tell him myself." She drew up her legs to attempt to kick him off, but Kouga was ready. He shifted his weight so that he was lying across her legs, the full weight of his body pinning her down now, instead of just his hands. His face was less than a foot away from hers, and she could feel his breath against her face as he breathed. 

"You won't," Kouga whispered. "It ends now, Teiya. Either I free you here - or I kill you here. Either way, you won't return to Naraku." 

"Free me from what?" Teiya spat. "Naraku-sama doesn't hold me against my will. I follow him willingly." 

_She doesn't remember any of it, Kouga thought, and he struggled to regain his composure. Hearing her say Naraku's name like he was some sort of god was sickening - she'd never done that in the years he had known her. By the time they'd met, she'd already despised Naraku completely. "I'm sorry, Teiya," he whispered, fixing his piercing blue eyes on hers. "I'm sorry for letting him get you again. I'm sorry for letting you down. I don't know what he's done to you, and I don't know how to fix it. All I can do is let you go." _

Something about the softness of his words, the intensity of his eyes, and feel of his body pressed against hers made Teiya cease struggling. A dull throbbing in her head distracted her briefly, and she tried to close her eyes to make the pain go away. She found, though, that she couldn't. She couldn't break contact with his eyes. 

He had a name…she knew he had a name…hadn't Naraku-sama told her his name? 

Hadn't he? 

Then why couldn't she remember it? 

_Kouga, a soft voice whispered in the back of her mind, and in that instant Teiya felt as if she had been transported into another time as images began to flash through her mind. They flashed over and over again, images of Kouga, of Kouga and her, of other people - __friends, her mind whispered - over and over again. _

And then stopped as the wolf named Kouga lowered his head and placed a soft kiss on her lips. 

_"What are you so afraid of, Teiya?" Kouga asked, arms folded across his chest. "What did Naraku do to make you so distrustful?"_

_"Like you care," Teiya snapped. "All you've done is tease and scorn me the entire time we've traveled together. I don't understand that - if you hate my breed so much, why do you still follow me?"_

_"I don't follow you," Kouga said automatically. "I'm following dog-face and Kagome-chan - you just happen to be going in the same direction. So are you going to tell me what Naraku did to you?"_

_Teiya glared at him. _

_"Come on," Kouga coaxed, a taunting smirk on his face. "Or would you like me to guess? I bet it was something pretty horrible - you say his name with such venom, just like myself and others I know. Did I tell you why I__ hate Naraku?"_

_Teiya remained silent, but she shook her head. _

_Kouga looked up through the canopy of the trees at the full moon above. "Naraku tricked several of my comrades to one of his fake castles. He slaughtered them all, then tricked me into fighting against Inu Yasha. He nearly killed me with a false Shikon shard - I would have died if not for Kagome's power. So I track Naraku to kill him, to avenge the deaths of my fellow wolves." He returned his gaze to hers. "Now, are you going to tell me that what happened to you was worse?"_

_She bristled at the tone of his voice, the harshness of what he said, the implication that she couldn't know what he felt towards Naraku, that whatever her tragedy, it couldn't match up to his. _

_"He killed my whole pack when I was a pup," Teiya said. "My mother, my father, my brothers and sisters, my friends - in a single instant, he wiped out the entire Arctic Pack. Only I was left alive, and only because I wasn't there when it happened. I arrived in our valley of ice barely an hour later. Their bodies were still warm._

_"Naraku lied to me, he told me that it had been the Mountain wolves that had slaughtered them. I believed him." She shook her head in disgust. "I was such a fool. He trained me in many arts of fighting, and used me in assassinations. And I did it all for him, with a song in my heart." She laughed bitterly. "I thought I was in love with him. Pathetic, huh? But I was just a kid." _

_"You were his concubine, weren't you," Kouga said softly. Teiya nodded and looked up, then gasped when she realized that while she had been talking, he had walked closer to her. But she had to finish. If she didn't, she wouldn't be able to bury the past again. _

_"Eventually I became strong enough to refuse him," Teiya said. "He had started to…to change. I think that was around the time that Kikyou woman was brought back to life. He's in love with her, you know. Always has been. But when I refused him, he became furious. He…he hit me…nearly killed me. And then he told me that if I ever disobeyed him, he would do to me what he had done to my family."_

_"What did you do?" Kouga asked. _

_"I had to escape," Teiya whispered. "So while he was preoccupied with Inu Yasha, I left. I just left. Naraku had trained me well enough that I was able to hide myself from him, but I…" She shook as the memories came back, her knees trembling. If Kouga hadn't suddenly put his arms around her, she would have collapsed. _

_"Why did you come back?" _

_"I couldn't forget," Teiya replied. "I wanted revenge for my family, for myself, and for all the poor souls that he forced me to kill to further him ambition. But by that time I didn't know how to find him. He had grown more powerful because of his Shikon shards. So I started following his obsession. He hates Inu Yasha with a passion - I knew he'd never rest until the hanyou was slain. And I knew that where Inu Yasha was, Naraku would eventually be." _

_Suddenly the tears she'd been holding back began to fall, and she gripped Kouga's armor tightly. "But look at me!" she choked out. "I can't even beat another wolf in combat - how can I expect to fight Naraku?__ Fight and win? How?" _

_"You don't have to," Kouga said. "Not alone. Because I'm fighting him, too. And so is Inu Yasha, and Kagome, and Miroku, Sango, Shippou. Kikyou. Sesshoumaru. We're all fighting him, in our own ways. And sooner or later we'll fight him together. You're not alone, Teiya."_

_Teiya's breath hitched as Kouga cupped her chin softly. "I-I'm not?" she whispered. _

_"No," Kouga replied as he kissed her for the first time._

Teiya's eyes snapped open, and she stared up at Kouga. She was trembling from the sudden onslaught of memory. He had his claws bared, ready to take her life as he had promised to do. But when she looked up at him with clear eyes, he stopped. 

"K-kouga?" she whispered. "Koibito?"

A choked sob escaped Kouga's throat, and Teiya watched as tears welled up in his eyes. _I haven't seen him cry since…since Kagome-chan died, Teiya thought. "Koi?" she whispered uncertainly._

Kouga tightened his grip on her shoulders and sat up, pulling her up with him. He wrapped his arms around her and tucked her head under his chin. "You're back," he whispered, burying his face in her hair. "Thank god you're back."  


	17. Evil Shows His Face

**Inu Yasha: Future Nightmare**

**Chapter Seventeen: Evil Shows His Face**

Footsteps echoed on the gravel driveway leading up to the Dubret house, then stopped dead at the sight of Kouga and Teiya embracing, with Diana, Angelina, Kohaku, Kirara, Myouga, and Maia looking on. 

"What in the world is going on here?"

Kouga looked up at the sound of Sanji's bewildered voice, then stood, pulling Teiya up with him. "Um…hey, everyone." 

The Resistance were staring at him. 

Teiya looked down at the ground, unable to meet any of their gazes. 

When she felt a pair of hands grip her shoulders, she looked up at and found herself facing Flare. The mixed breed looked at her for a few moments, silently. "Is it really you?" Flare finally asked. "Is Naraku's spell really broken?" 

It was a few more minutes before Teiya answered. "I-I don't know," she said softly. "I remember what happened - I remember everything, now. Naraku must have been controlling my memories when I was under his control. But I don't know if I'm completely free of him." 

"Then we'll have to deal with that if and when the time comes," Sesshoumaru said as he walked up to stand beside Flare. "For now, let's just be thankful that you've returned to the Resistance, Teiya." 

Teiya bowed her head to the youkai lord. "Arigatou, Sesshoumaru," she said. Then she looked at the assembled group. "It's been quite awhile, hasn't it? And…what's this? Shippou?!" 

The kitsune laughed and flashed her a quick grin. "I've grown up a bit, haven't I?"

"I see you've still got that ridiculous bow in your hair, though," Teiya teased. And then she looked beyond Shippou, and her eyes widened. "What in the world?"

Sesshoumaru followed her gaze, and nodded when he saw Kagome. "Some very peculiar things have been happening to us lately. I think we all need to sit down and talk." He looked at Kouga. "Did you do what you were told?"

Kouga motioned towards the group standing near the house. "Safe and sound, just as the inu ordered," he said. 

Kagome looked over, and nearly gasped when she found herself staring at a teenage girl who could've been her twin sister. The only noticeable difference was the color of her eyes, and the hat she wore on her head. Kagome had a feeling she knew why she wore that hat. 

Sesshoumaru approached the group and stood before Angelina. "With your permission, we'd like to enter your home," he said. "We have much that we need to discuss." 

Angelina stared up at him, tight-lipped. "You're Sesshoumaru." 

"Yes."

"Older brother of Inu Yasha."

"Yes." 

"Lord of the Western Lands."

"Yes." 

She stared at him for a moment longer, then glanced at Maia. Maia was staring, wide-eyed, at Kagome and wasn't paying any attention to the exchange between the woman she thought of as her mother and the man she didn't know was her uncle. She looked back at Sesshoumaru. "Will you explain everything to us?" she asked. 

"We'lll try," Sesshoumaru said. 

Angelina sighed, and turned towards the door. "Then come in." 

"My Lord."

"What?" Naraku looked sharply at the minion kneeling before him. He clutched the hilt of Tenseiga tightly, not liking the way his title was spoken. 

"My apologies, Naraku-sama - but it would seem that the spell over Teiya has been broken.'

Naraku growled deep in his throat, but managed to contain his rage. He couldn't afford to lose his temper again. _How can this be? he thought furiously. __That spell was perfect! How could it have been broken by them?!_

There was no doubt in his mind _who had broken the spell, of course. _

_Damn you, Sesshoumaru. Damn you, Kouga. Damn you, all of you! You think you can stop me?! You think you've won some big battle?! Well. Think. A. Gain. _

"One more thing, My Lord."

"What?"

The minion looked up at him. "While I was following Teiya, I made an interesting discovery. It would seem, My Lord, that Inu Yasha…has a daughter."

_A…what? Naraku gritted his teeth. __So that was what Tenseiga's soul showed me. _

"Leave me," Naraku snarled at the minion, who immediately scurried out of the chamber. A dark smile appeared on his face as he stood up, and lifted his hand to touch the scar on his shoulder. "So the Resistance thinks they can stop me so easily. Well, Sesshoumaru, you've only succeeded in hardening my hatred for you all. I was going to have some fun with you before I decided to kill you…but you've gone too far, now." 

He looked down at Tenseiga. "Well, then…shall we go visit your master, Tenseiga? Not that I'll return you to him - oh, no. You've restored me this far, and you'll keep restoring me. Until I _kill him."_

And the soul of the sword, the soul of Tenseiga, cried out for its brother, and began to weep. 

"So that's where we are now," Sesshoumaru said to the assembled group. "It's been over a decade, but we've finally made it to this moment." 

Inu Maia Higurashi clenched the bottom of her shirt tightly in her fists. "Why - why don't I remember any of this?" she asked. "I wasn't too young to have memories – right? I mean, youkai can remember from the moment they were born, and hanyous for nearly that long. I don't understand…I can't even remember what my parents looked like!" 

"Do not worry, Inu Maia-sama," Myouga said from her shoulder. She looked at him, her expression filled with worry. "Kagome is the spitting image of your mother, as she was when she was your age."

"It's not the same!" Maia cried. "I want to remember my parents – the way they were when _I knew them."_

Sesshoumaru looked at his niece helplessly, not quite sure what to do. Beside him, Flare placed her hand on his arm, offering him what little comfort she could. But it was Shippou who walked over to Maia and knelt down in front of her. 

"I can empathize with how you feel," Shippou said gently. "I was close to your mother, and your father. When they died, I closed myself off from everyone I knew and went into seclusion. It got to the point where all I could remember was their names. I couldn't even recall Kagome's face, and I adored her." 

Maia looked up at him with watery eyes. Shippou covered her hands with his own and smiled. "I think it's time, then." 

"Time?" Maia asked.

Shippou glanced over his shoulder and Sesshoumaru, and nodded. "Time to get your father's legacy, I think."

"My father's…legacy?" 

"My father…your grandfather…wanted to ensure that his sons were protected after he was gone," Sesshoumaru said. "He created two swords out of his own fangs, which he then named Tenseiga and Tetsusaiga. Tenseiga was the sword that healed, and Tetsusaiga was the sword that destroyed." 

"And this sword…is my father's legacy?" Maia asked.

"Tetsusaiga," Kagome whispered. "She can use it?"

"Yes," Shippou said. "She can use it." 

"Where…where is it?" Maia asked uncertainly.

Shippou stood up and held out his hand to her. "I'll take you there." 

"We'll go, too," Sanji said, standing up. 

"No," Shippou said sharply. "The less the better. I can protect Maia and shield her from Naraku because Naraku doesn't know her energy signature, but he can track the rest of you." He looked at Maia. "Let's go, Maia." 

Maia stood up and took his hand, nodding. "Hai. Let's go." 

Shippou closed his eyes. "_Kistune bi!" There was a bright flash of light, and the two were gone._

"What now?" Diana asked. 

"We wait," Kouga said. "That's all we can do." 

Maia looked around, gaping at the clearing. "Amazing!" she breathed. "How did you do that?"

"Fox fire," Shippou said, shrugging. "That's another reason I couldn't bring any of the others - I don't have the strength for it. As it is, I barely had enough power to bring us both here." 

"Then how are we supposed to get back?" Maia demanded, spinning around. Her hat flew off her head, and her black ears twitched in irritation. 

"Oh, I can recuperate easily enough," Shippou said, waving it off. "Let's get you your sword now, all right?" He walked over to the center of the clearing and held out his hand, muttering several words under his breath. 

Maia watched with wide eyes as the air seemed to open up before him, a pocket fold splitting apart, revealing a strange mixture of blackness and stars within it. Shippou reached into this fold and grasped something tightly.  

When he removed his hand, a long sword sheath came out with it. Maia couldn't tell what was so impressive about the sword, but she decided not to pass judgment until after she'd had a chance to give it a closer look. Shippou closed the breach, then walked back to her, sword in hand. 

"Hold out your hands," he said. Maia did so. Shippou gripped the sword with both of his hands, then placed it in hers. "Tetsusaiga, the sword that slays," he said as she took the sword. 

Maia could sense a strange vibration coming from the sword, almost as if it were humming. "So this is my father's legacy?" she asked. Gripping the handle, she slid Tetsusaiga out of its sheath to look at the blade. A look of profound skepticism appeared on her face as she took in the rusty appearance of said blade. "_This was made from my grandfather's fang?"_

"And part of your father's," Shippou said, nodding. "What do you think?"

"Um…"

The kitsune just laughed. "You'll get used to it," he said. "There's a lot more to that sword than meets the eye." 

"I suppose…" Maia still looked doubtful, but she shrugged and slid Tetsusaiga back into its sheath. Then, with a little help from Shippou, she managed to secure it at her side, making it easier to carry. "Now what?"

"We rest," Shippou said. "I need to get a little more strength back before we return to Australia. Then from there, we'll go back to Tokyo with everyone else." He walked over to a nearby tree and settled at the foot of it. "Being here reminds me of my childhood."

"Your childhood?" Maia asked, coming to sit down next to him. Her ears twitched as she spoke. "But you don't look much older than me!" 

"That's just my outward appearance," Shippou said. "As a full youkai, I can actually make myself look as old or as young as I want. In reality, I'm over 500 years old." 

"Wow," Maia breathed. "You're very well-preserved for such an old man."

Shippou glowered at her. "Stop teasing," he hissed. 

"Well, what do you expect with that bow in your hair?" Maia asked. "You're a bully's dream. If it weren't for the fact that you don't wear a shirt under that vest, I'd have a hard time figuring out if you were a guy or not."

The kitsune pouted and touched his bow protectively. "This bow was given to me by my mother when I was a baby," he said. "It has sentimental value." 

Maia blushed and immediately looked chagrined. "Sorry, I didn't –" She cut herself off when she saw the grin appearing on Shippou's face, and swatted him over the head. "Baka." 

Shippou grabbed her hand before she could get another swat in, then leaned up against the tree and closed his eyes. Maia blushed when she realized that he didn't let go of her hand. _He is__ cute, she thought. Then she shook her head. __He's a youkai, Maia!_

But…she kind of was, too. 

"Shippou?"

"Hmm?"

"Why am I so important to this Resistance or whatever?" 

Shippou opened his eyes and looked at her. "I guess we haven't told you that, have we?"

Maia shook her head. 

"Have you ever heard of the Shikon no Tama?"

"The Jewel of the Four Souls?" Maia asked. Shippou nodded. "I've heard my moth – Angelina talk about it. But she told me that it was lost years ago, when Inu Yasha used it to become fully human."

"That's the last time it was used, according to public record," Shippou agreed. "What no one outside of our group knows is that when Naraku attacked you and you mother, the Shikon no Tama suddenly flared up inside Inu Yasha and returned his hanyou powers to him. When Naraku killed him, the Jewel was released from Inu Yasha's body and split into five pieces. Each piece disappeared - at least, that's what everyone, and especially Naraku, thinks. 

"The pieces were actually granted to five people who were present at the time, and began appearing when they needed afterward. I'm one of them." Shippou moved one of the cloth bands he had around his wrists and revealed a gold chain. Hanging from the chain was a pink shard. 

Maia gaped at it. "Is that…a piece of the Shikon no Tama?"

"Yes," Shippou said. "Number four. There's a legend that goes along with this - the Shikon no Tama will be split into five parts. Number 1 will be a human cursed by demons. Number 2, a youkai of mixed heritage. Number 3, a youkai fighting for the light. Number 4, a youkai who sees the light. And Number 5, a hanyou born of one who holds the power." 

"But…but I don't have a shard!" protested Maia.

"It won't appear until the four other shards are used," Shippou replied. "We're not quite sure of what will happen when the five pieces are brought together, but whatever it is, it's going to be important in this fight. The Shikon no Tama is our _only chance at defeating Naraku." _

Maia wrapped her arms around her knees and drew them up to her chest. "How bad is he?"

"He killed your parents, cursed Sanji's entire family, slaughtered Teiya and Kouga's species, nearly eradicated the Taijiya, and single-handedly ruined the lives of thousands of humans everywhere. Does it really matter how bad he is? He needs to be stopped." 

Maia nodded slowly. And then, suddenly, she squeezed Shippou's hand so hard that he let out a loud yelp. "What was that for?!" he demanded, then stopped when he noticed how pale she had turned. "What's wrong?"

"Something," she whispered. "Danger. I can…feel it. I can smell it." She growled softly, and her ears lay back against her head. "I can smell _him. Naraku." _

"Here?" 

She shook her head. "No…we have to go back. We have to go back _now. We shouldn't have left them._

"He's _there." _

"Australia? When? How long?" Shippou wasn't even going to ask how she knew. Like Inu Yasha, Inu Maia seemed to have a sixth sense about the monster. 

"_Now."_

The windows shattered inward suddenly, sending glass showering over the inhabitants of the house. Kagome threw herself at Kohaku, covering the little boy the keep him from getting cut. Everyone else dropped to the ground, then moved into battle stances the moment the glass stopped falling. 

"Who's there?!" shouted Sesshoumaru, his hair shifting from white to black as he debated on going to full-youkai or remaining in his human guise. Flare, Kouga, and Teiya all began to growl, challenges of the wolf clan. Sanji reached for his staff, while Rin pulled out a couple throwing knives and Sota strung his bow. 

Cold laughter filled the house, and a chill went down Kagome's spine.

And then, as if by magic, there he was, standing in the middle of the living room. 

Naraku. 

"Bastard," hissed Kouga. "Murdering bastard. So you finally show your face after all this time." 

Naraku smirked. "Ah, the little wolf prince. So good to see you. Do you still see the slaughtered bodies of your comrades? That wasn't my doing, you know."  

"That won't work, Naraku," Kouga snarled. "Even though Kagura, may she rot in hell even after all these years after her destruction, animated them - it was _you who orchestrated it!" _

Kagome stared at Naraku, trembling slightly. She had thought he was bad in her time - now, he seemed even worse. He seemed to be _completely surrounded by evil. He also, apparently, continued to believe that baboon skins were in good fashion taste. _

She gasped when he suddenly looked at her. "I'm still curious as to how _you can be alive," he said. "Don't worry - I'll be sending you back to your beloved Inu Yasha soon. I'm here for only one thing."_

"And what's that?" demanded Sesshoumaru.

Naraku fixed his cold gaze on Teiya. "My property." 

Suddenly Kagome gasped. "That's not Naraku!" she shouted. "It's only one of his puppets! Teiya, look out!" 

There was no time. Although Kouga reacted instantly, it was too late. From out of thin air, the real Naraku appeared behind Teiya and pulled her against him. "Farewell, my _friends," he said as they began to vanish. "And if you want her back, then come to my palace. I'll be waiting!" _

And with those words he was gone. 

"Teiya!" shouted Kouga, his voice laced with pain. "No!" 

"Kouga!" Sesshoumaru snapped sharply. "Not now! We've still got him to deal with!" 

The Naraku-puppet laughed cruelly. "How right you are. Now…DIE!" 


	18. Naraku's Strength

**Inu Yasha: Future Nightmare**

**Chapter Eighteen: Naraku's Strength**

"Kagome, take Kohaku and run!" Sanji said, moving in front of her to face the Naraku puppet. "Kohaku, go with Kagome!" 

Kagome grabbed the boy's hand and hauled him towards one of the broken windows. With Sanji guarding them, they managed to climb out and fall the couple of feet to the ground. Kagome nearly tripped over her own feet, but a hand reached out to steady her. "Let's go," Sota said as he pulled her along for a few feet. Kagome glanced briefly over her shoulder to see Rin, Diana, and Angelina racing after them. _Sesshoumaru told all the humans except for Sanji to get out, Kagome realized. __Makes sense - Sanji's got the power of the Air Void and the Shikon, but the rest of us are too vulnerable. _

"Sota!" she shouted. "Naraku isn't just going to let us run off like this!" 

Sota cursed under his breath and turned sharply, leading them into an alley that ran alongside some of the houses in the neighborhood. A split second later, the main road they had been running on suddenly exploded into a shower of stone and dust. "Thanks, Kagome," Sota said. "You reminded me that Naraku likes to give nasty little surprises." 

Rin leaned over to catch her breath, then reached up to wipe tears away from her eyes. "I can't believe he has Teiya again," she said, shaking her head. "We completely forgot about his puppets." 

"Naraku hasn't used them in years," Diana said. "He hasn't been strong enough." 

Kohaku buried his face in Diana's leg. "Mama, I'm scared," he whimpered softly. Diana knelt down and put a comforting arm around him. 

Kagome tuned out the people around her and thought hard. There was something that they were missing - something important. After the initial explosion, nothing else had come after them. Was it because however stronger he had gotten, Naraku was still limited? Or was it something else? 

_"Don't worry – I'll be sending you back to your beloved Inu Yasha before long." _

_Naraku doesn't know that I'm from the past, she thought. __So he thinks that I'm the Kagome who died - the one with the full miko powers. He's not strong enough to fight a full miko, especially one with bodyguards…but I don't have that power, anyway. And why__ did he come after Teiya again? Kagome bit her lip in frustration. __There's a clue here – I know it._

And then, slowly, she realized it. 

"I need to borrow these," Kagome said, lunging forward and pulling the bow and arrow set out of the Sanji's grasp before he could stop her. "Don't follow me!" She ran out of the alley and sprinted down the street, heading back towards Angelina's house. She could hear the sounds of a ferocious battle in the distance, and realized that the others were drawing the Naraku puppet away from the houses. 

"There you are!" she shouted suddenly, drawing out her arrow and pointing it at seemingly nothing. "Don't move, or I'll shoot!" 

There was silence.

….

Then, from behind her, a huge spider youkai launched itself at her. Kagome spun around, pointed the arrow, and froze as the spider descended on her. 

_Oh. Shit._

There was a soft breeze, and then, quite suddenly, the spider paused, squeaked, and then fell to the ground in a hundred tiny pieces. Kagome breathed a sigh of relief and shouldered her bow. "I was hoping you were there," she said. 

Inu Yasha materialized in front of her, his eyes bright with anger. "_What the fuck were you trying to pull?" he demanded. __"You could've been killed! You're the only one here who isn't __expendable right now." _

"I knew you wouldn't let anything happen to me," Kagome replied. "Thanks. Now I need you to do something for me."

Inu Yasha stared at her. "_You knew I was following you?" _

"I was counting on the fact that you, aside from being dead and all, you're still Inu Yasha," Kagome replied. "Now, are you going to help me or not?"

Inu Yasha folded his arms over his chest. "_That depends on what you want me to do." _

Kagome took a deep breath. "What I want is very simple. You've been spying on Naraku. You know where his castle is.

"You're going to take me there."

The hanyou spirit's response was instantaneous. "_No. Abso-fucking-lutely no." _

"You have to," Kagome insisted. "You see, sooner or later Naraku is going to get bored with fighting Sesshoumaru and the others. And then he'll decide to turn his attention to something else - some_one else. Maia. Your daughter." She took a deep breath. "Our daughter."_

Inu Yasha's golden eyes were filled with sadness when she said this. _Kagome, if only you knew how strong you are right at this moment. How strong you'll become. You know me so well, although you don't know me__ at all. _

_I would do anything__ for my daughter. _

"The only way to distract Naraku from Maia is if we give him something else to play with," Kagome replied. "Take me to him. I'll keep him busy - and then, hopefully, you'll be able to get Sesshoumaru and the others to back me up." 

Inu Yasha nodded, his ears drooping in defeat. Then one of them perked back up as he suddenly thought of something. "_How am I supposed to get you there? You'll go right through me." _

Kagome grinned. "You handled that youkai pretty well. Surely you can be solid long enough to provide transport."

Inu Yasha muttered something under his breath, and Kagome cocked her head to one side. "What was that?"

"_Nothing." Taking a deep breath – completely for show, of course, and Kagome rolled her eyes to show that she knew it – Inu Yasha suddenly stopped acting like a window and more like a door. "__Get on and hold tight. Naraku's castle is up." _

"Up?" Kagome asked as she hoisted herself onto his back. Since this Inu Yasha was older and slightly bigger than the Inu Yasha she was used to, it took her a moment to get comfortable. 

"_Hang on!" And with that, Inu Yasha leaped for the top of the nearest building, gaining momentum and speed as they climbed higher and higher - proving, without a doubt, that the castle certainly was 'up'. _

The Naraku-puppet nimbly dodged Sesshoumaru's strike and landed a few feet away, putting him in perfect striking distance for Kouga. Fortunately, the wolf was fast enough that puppet merely attacked air, and was then taken offguard when Kouga landed a swift kick to his back. 

Naraku hit the ground with a loud _thud! and barely managed to avoid Flare's attempt at slicing him in half, but Sanji was right there, smacking the puppet in the face with his staff. Naraku stumbled back, clutching at his face. _

"Enough of this," Sesshoumaru snarled. "_Poison Claw!" _

The attack sliced through the puppet, dividing it into several smaller pieces that fell to the ground immediately. The four Resistance members stood there, staring at the pieces, breathing heavily. "That was too easy," Kouga commented. "He still must not be at full strength. Well. Good news for us."

"Not _that good," Flare said darkly. "He's still regaining power – __and he's got Teiya back. We need to go after him before he does anything to her." Kouga nodded in agreement._

"Wait," Sesshoumaru said, stopping the half-siblings. "We can't just rush into this. Remember the last battle we just ran right into?"

Of course they did. It wasn't something they _liked remembering – after all, it was in that battle that they'd lost Inu Yasha and their Kagome. _

Speaking of Kagome…

"Naraku seems to think that the Kagome we have is our Kagome reincarnated or something," Sanji said. "He doesn't seem to realize that she's actually from the past." 

"We need to keep him thinking that," Sesshoumaru replied. "If he knew who she really was, then to stop us all he'd need to do is kill her. Who knows how that would effect the future?"

"So what are we supposed to do?" demanded Kouga. "Teiya needs us!" 

"First, we get Shippou and Maia," Sesshoumaru said. "Then we find the others. And _then we come up with a plan of attack. Teiya's a big girl, she can handle herself. And there's no way she's going to let Naraku work his magic on her again. Let's get going before we waste to much time."_

Sesshoumaru started walking off in the direction that Kagome and the others had run off in, when he suddenly felt something wrap around his leg and haul him off the ground. "_NANI?!"_

"The Naraku-puppet!" Sanji shouted as the puppet, somehow whole again, rose from the ground. Protruding out from beneath the baboon skin were several waving tentacles, and one of them had a tight grip on Sesshoumaru. Another whipped towards the captive youkai, attempting to wrap around his neck, but Sesshoumaru was quick. He brought up his arms to prevent it from breaking his neck, but now he had the problem of being completely helpless.

"Sesshoumaru!" Flare shouted, running towards her mate. 

"Flare, no-ahhhh!" Kouga barely had time to shout out a word of warning before the tentacles wrapped around him and began squeezing. Out of the corner of his red-hazed vision, he saw Flare and Sanji as well get caught in the trap.

"Fools," cackled the Naraku-puppet. "You thought you could kill me so easily! Now I'll complete my goal and destroy you all!" 

Sesshoumaru struggled to break free, but the Naraku-puppet had an iron grip on him, and was easily tightening it with each passing second. It was becoming harder and harder to breathe…he felt as if his chest was going to crack in half…he struggled to maintain consciousness, but the cries of his friends were growing more and more muffled…

_Flare…Inu Yasha…Rin…, thought Sesshoumaru hazily. __I'm…sorry… _


	19. All Together

**Inu Yasha: Future Nightmare**

**Chapter Nineteen: All Together**

The Naraku-puppet laughed in triumph as he felt Sesshoumaru begin to go limp, and the struggles of the other three become less insistent. _Just a few more seconds…_

"Kitsune bi!"

"ARGH!" The tentacles holding the four were cut away from the main body, and they all the ground with an echoing _thud! Maia ran over to kneel beside Sesshoumaru while Shippou stood in front of the Naraku-puppet._

"You!" cried the puppet. "How did you get here?!" 

"Instant teleportation," Shippou replied. "Secret kitsune trick. And it looks like we made it just in time, too." 

Maia helped Sesshoumaru into a sitting position. "Are you okay?" she asked her uncle as he struggled to regain his breath and keep it. 

"Fine…in…minute," he managed to gasp out. "Flare?"

"I'm okay," Flare said, groaning as Kouga helped her stand. 

Sanji hoisted himself up with his staff and groaned. "That hurt," he complained. "Nice timing, Shippou."

"Never doubt the fox-tail," Shippou said, flashing them a grin before turning back towards Naraku. "You guys feel up to a little puppet extermination?"

Sesshoumaru growled and clenched his fists. "That's the last time I underestimate this jerk," he said. 

Somehow, despite the fact that he was now completely surrounded by several very pissed off youkai, and one half-youkai and human, the Naraku-puppet showed absolutely no fear. "You could barely beat me before," he taunted. "Now just because you have to help of a kitsune and a hanyou, you think you can?"

"Maia, stay back," Sesshoumaru commanded. 

"Hell no," Maia shot back. "I'm not going to sit back while the rest of you have all the fun. It's been a long time since I fought anything, and this guy is just ugly. I'm in, mate." 

"In _what?" everyone asked, momentarily distracted. _

"Australian slang," Maia explained. 

"Ohhhhhh." 

The Naraku-puppet sweatdropped. "Um…"

"Besides which," Maia said, smirking, "I've got this." With an expression nearly identical to the one Inu Yasha would get, Maia unsheathed the Tetsusaiga in one clean swipe, nearly beheading Kouga but nevertheless handling it like she'd been born doing so. 

"_K'so," cursed the Naraku-puppet as he stared at the fully transformed sword. "How the hell can a little girl like __you master that unless…__you're Inu Yasha's daughter?!" _

"Where did you _think these ears came from?!" Maia demanded. _

Shippou and the others just stared at her. "She's completely different from the way she was acting before," Sanji said in awe.

"Must be Inu Yasha's blood," Flare commented. 

Sesshoumaru, Shippou, and Kouga nodded in agreement, each of them recognizing the attitude and mannerisms to be nearly identical to those of the hanyou. 

"Can you control that?" Sesshoumaru asked Inu Maia softly.

For a second the self-assured expression on her face faltered. "Um…maybe?" she whispered back. 

Sesshoumaru winced slightly, then looked at the others. "Okay," he said. "We attack together. Shippou, distract him. Maia, guard Shippou and Sanji with the sword. Flare, Kouga, and I will try to draw his attacks. When he's turned away – Sanji?"

"Got it," the Taijiya-Houshi replied. 

Shippou ran off to the right, shouting out to the kugutsu. "Hey, monkey-boy! Over here!" 

The kugutsu turned to look at the kitsune, tentacles waving around. "What now?" it asked, exasperated. 

Shippou just grinned. "Oh, I just thought you might like to know that…Naraku's a worthess hanyou who can't do anything himself, his traps are second-rate, if bricks were brains he'd be homeless, his fashion sense sucks, he's a total a—ACK!" 

Maia swung Tetsusaiga and sliced neatly through the onrushing tentacles. "Shippou, if you're going to insult him – at least wait until I'm close enough to keep you from being shish-kabobed."

"Arigatou," Shippou said gratefully. He glanced quickly to see where the other three youkai were, then started up with another Naraku rant to give them just a little more time to get behind the kugutsu. "Bakayarou! You're nothing but a pale imitation of half-mad baboon! You can't even –" 

"_Urusai!" shouted the kugutsu, tentacles aimed for Shippou. Maia intercepted with Tetsusaiga at the same time Sesshoumaru lunged forward with his Poison Claw. The kugutsu screamed in pain as the poison shot through several of his tentacles. He tried to turn to meet the attack, but suddenly Flare and Kouga were on him, doing what wolves do best – move fast enough to annoy the hell out of their opponents, and get in some good kicks and claws while they're at it. _

"Together!" shouted Sesshoumaru, letting loose with another attack. Shippou added his own foxfire into the mix, and Maia managed to get in several hits with her sword. The kugutsu stumbled back and slammed into the wall of a nearby building. 

"Behind me!" shouted Sanji. "KAAZAANA! 

The Air Void exploded from its restraints, pulling the kugutsu into its deadly trap. Sanji grimaced from the exertion – unlike his father, he hadn't used the Air Void much in his lifetime, and never on something as large as the Naraku-puppet. The kugutsu screamed as it was sucked towards oblivion…

…"Damn it, Sanji, close it up!" shouted Kouga suddenly. "Close it up!" 

"What?" Sanji shouted, straining to hear his friend over the roar of the Air Void. 

"LOOK UP!"  everyone shouted. 

Sanji looked up, and cursed when he saw a swarm of poison bees heading straight for him. He closed up the Air Void just as the first ones dove for it, and stumbled back. 

The kugutsu, saved from a death in a black hole, staggered upright. "Ha ha ha!" it laughed. "Foolish houshi! I'll kill you all!" 

Sanji smirked. "I'm not done yet." He held out his staff, and pulled on a small catch handle on it. With a loud _bang! the staff seemed to unfold into another familiar weapon passed down in the Fuijmiya family._

The kugutsu stopped laughing. 

"Don't forget," Sanji said. "I'm a Taijiya, too. Hiraikotsu!" 

The massive boomerang sliced through the kugutsu like a knife through butter, and the puppet crashed to the ground several dozen tiny pieces. The puppet magic in the center of the remains disintegrated the moment it was exposed to air. 

Sanji intercepted Hiraikotsu in mid-air, and glared at the poison bees as they hovered above. "Rotten timing," he muttered. 

"Definitely," Shippou agreed. "But nice move with the Hiraikotsu. I didn't know your staff could do that." 

Sanji grinned.  "Well, what were you expecting? You know that the originals were buried with my mother. I just modified them."

"And thank god you did," Sesshoumaru said. "That saved our lives. Let's go find the others –" 

"Sesshoumaru-sama!" 

Everyone looked to see Rin and Sota running towards them, waving frantically. 

"What are you two doing here?" Sesshoumaru demanded. "I told you to get away."

"We did," Sota said, bending over to catch his breath. "But then Kagome took off unexpectedly. Rin and I went looking for her, but there's no sign of her." 

"When we got near the house, I sensed the presence of a youkai, and then we found the remains of a spider-youkai that had been clawed up. It looked like Inu Yasha's Sankangetsou," Rin added. "I think…I think Kagome might have gotten Inu Yasha to take her to Naraku's castle, because all of a sudden her scent just disappeared." 

"It's a good thing Rin grew up in the forest, or we'd be clueless," Sota said. "But if Kagome really did go after Naraku…"

"She did it to get Teiya back," Kouga groaned. "K'so! Baka onna!" 

Sesshoumaru growled softly. "Kouga, take everyone back to the Underground and gather Maiyuka and as many members of the Resistance as you can find. Flare, can you get the five of us to Naraku's castle?"

Flare nodded. "If Kouga doesn't have a problem with it," she said, glaring at her brother. 

Kouga rolled his eyes. "Like I'm going to argue now? Just don't let our mother down, imouto." 

"Urusai," muttered Flare. She closed her eyes and concentrated, summoning her youki and manipulating it into a tunnel. "Hurry up and go!" she snapped to the Sesshoumaru, Shippou, Sanji, and Maia. "I can't hold it forever!" 

There was a small squeak from near Rin, and Kirara suddenly popped out of her jacket pocket. She leaped onto Sanji's shoulder just before he stepped through the youki tunnel, not willing to be left behind in this battle. After all, she had a mistress and a master to avenge as well. 

"Flare!" Kouga shouted just before she closed the tunnel.

Flare looked at him. 

"Be careful!" 

"Don't worry about me," Flare said. "Just get those reinforcements!" And then she was gone into the portal.

Sota put a hand on Kouga's shoulder. "They'll be fine," he said. "Let's get going." 

*****

Inu Yasha leaped over a large stone wall, and landed in a large courtyard. A castle stood in front of them, decked out in feudal style. Everything was dark. 

"Naraku!" Kagome shouted. "I know you're here! Come out!" 

A low laugh echoed throughout the courtyard. "So the long-lost miko has come to challenge me, has she?" Naraku intoned. The door to the castle slid open, and he stood there, framed by a blood-red light. "Or is this perhaps the reason you came?" He reached out and pulled a chained Teiya from behind the wall to stand beside him. She snarled at him in fury, but with the shackles on her neck, wrists and ankles, there wasn't anything she could do. She couldn't even speak, because he'd attached a metal mask over the lower part of her face. Kagome winced at the sight of the young wolf in chains. 

"_Let her go, Naraku," Inu Yasha hissed. _

Naraku looked over at the ghost, his eyes narrowed. "And what's a spirit like you going to do?" he asked. "Unlike your bride there, you're still dead." 

Kagome strung her bow and pointed the arrow at Naraku's chest. "And that's something else I need to pay you back for. Where's Tenseiga?"

He motioned to the sword strapped to his side. "So long as I have this, you can't harm me," he said, smirking. "And in any case, you wouldn't shoot with your friend so close. You might hit her instead." He ran his fingers along Teiya's cheek, and she shuddered visibly. "I wouldn't want you damaging such a fine young specimen." 

"You're sick," whispered Kagome, her fingers tightening on the arrow. 

"Just be content with the knowledge that you can't do anything," Naraku taunted. With one swift move, he unlatched Teiya's mask, pulled it away, and pulled her in for a harsh kiss. Kagome almost broke the arrow she was holding, and Inu Yasha looked ready to pounce. Neither of them could do anything.

Teiya, on the other hand…

"OW!" Naraku pushed Teiya away and touched his mouth with his hand. "You bitch! You _bit me!" _

"Touch me again and I'll kill you," snarled Teiya. 

Naraku yanked on the chain attached to the collar around her neck. "How _dare you!" _

"Teiya!" Kagome shouted, letting her arrow fly. Teiya caught up and jumped back as far as she could, the chain pulling tight. 

The arrow hit, snapping the metal links apart. Naraku stumbled back at the sudden lack of resistance, and Teiya chose that opportunity to use her speed to race to Kagome's side. The minute she did, she began clawing at the shackles to get them off. 

"Oh, I am _so going to __kill you," Naraku shouted, his youki swirling around him angrily. Inu Yasha flinched at the wind's sudden appearance, and seemed to flicker slightly. _

"_Kagome," he said. "__I don't think I'm going to be much good to you. Sorry." And with that, he was gone._

"Where'd he go?" Kagome demanded.

"It's the youki," Teiya explained, her voice tight. "It's poison to the dead. It consumes their spirits and forces them to become part of Naraku." 

"In that case, we're better off without him here," Kagome said through clenched teeth. "He's still injured, right?" She aimed another arrow, and fired. 

Teiya's eyes widened. "SHIT! _Kagome no baka!" _

"Huh?"

The arrow pierced through the youki halfway when Naraku unsheathed Tenseiga and held it up, causing the arrow to freeze in mid-air and shudder. His gaze locked with Kagome's, and at the site of his smug-yet-crazed look, a shudder went down her spine –

-- and the arrow spun around and sailed back towards her. Kagome froze in shock and surprise –_ He can't do that in my time! -- and then saw that Teiya had thrown herself in front of her –_

-- and the arrow was deflected by a large boomerang, which shattered upon impact. The arrow, disenchanted, hit the ground only a few feet from where Kagome and Teiya was standing. 

 "_What the hell?" Naraku looked around wildly for the one who dared to interrupt his fight with the young miko and the wolf-youkai. _

"Over here, genius," Sanji's voice said from up above. Kirara descended, her master on her back, to land between Naraku and Kagome. The Taijiya-Houshi lept off her back and immediately turned his covered hand towards Naraku. "You okay, Kagome? Teiya?"

"Thanks to you," Teiya said with slight relief. "I wasn't _really looking forward to being shish-kabobed." _

"You've done good," Sesshoumaru said as he, Maia, Shippou, and Flare ran up behind them. "Get out of here. Kouga is rallying the Resistance, and he needs your help." 

"I can't leave you!" she protested. 

"Yeah, you can," Flare said firmly. "Get going. Help Kouga. Naraku's got enough supporters to cause trouble down there, and we've got it taken care of here." 

"Take Kagome," Shippou added. 

"No way!" Kagome protested. "I'm definitely staying. You'll need me." 

Sesshoumaru looked at her through narrowed eyes. Then he nodded slightly. "Okay. Teiya, go. Kagome stays." 

Grumbling, Teiya immediately summoned her own youki and disappeared in traditional wolf fashion. 

Naraku watched this exchange with amusement. "I _love how you all pretend that everything is okay," he said when Sesshoumaru turned his attention to him. "You did the same thing about, oh, thirteen years ago – correct? Only that __didn't end up okay." He smiled cruelly. "And as I see it, the only problem that occurred then was that I failed to exterminate you vermin when I had the chance." _

"Vermin?" Shippou shot back. "Nice one, monkey-boy." 

"Uh, Shippou?" Flare said tentatively. "Pissing off the kugutsu is one thing. Pissing off the puppet_master – not such a good thing."  _

"Scatter!" Sanji shouted as Naraku suddenly shot towards them, youki swirling around him and making it hard to see where he was. Sesshoumaru and Flare dove to one side, while Kagome and Shippou threw themselves to the other. Maia didn't have time to move, so she did the first thing that came to mind – brought up Tetsusaiga and blocked Naraku's arm before he slashed at her with his claws. 

The sparks from the energy of the sword and Naraku were enough to almost blind the others, but Naraku was momentarily taken aback by Inu Maia's sudden stand. "If Inu Yasha couldn't defeat me, what makes you so sure you _can, little girl?" _

"Little girl?!" Maia repeated, outraged. She shoved with the Fang, knocking Naraku back a few steps, then brought it around in a sweeping arc. "I'll show you _little girl!" Everybody held their breath as it looked like Tetsusaiga might actually make its mark –_

-- and then Naraku unsheathed Tenseiga and brought it up, blocking the Fang with the Fang in a shatter of sparks. "You can't hurt me!" Naraku crowed. "Not so long as I possess the second Fang created by your grandfather!" 

The sight of Naraku wielding the sword that Inutaisho had created for Sesshoumaru and Sesshoumaru alone was too much for the Lord of the Western Lands to handle. With a howl of fury, he threw himself at Naraku, grabbing the other youkai's sword arm and summoning all of his poisonous abilities. "Give me back _my sword!" he shouted. _

Naraku was caught between trying to keep Tenseiga from allowing Tetsusaiga from hitting him, and finishing off Sesshoumaru while his guard was down. He summoned as much of his youki as he could to try and drive the inu-youkai off. Sesshoumaru struggled not to absorb too much of the youki as he felt Naraku's arm give slightly. 

_Need help?_

Sesshoumaru's eyes widened. "Inu…Yasha?" 

_Open yourself to me, aniki. In spirit form I can't fight. But there is another way. Use the power of the Shikon, and open yourself to me._

Flare watched, helpless, as her mate and her niece struggled with Naraku within the walls of Naraku's youki. She couldn't believe it, but it actually looked like Sesshoumaru was going to lose to Naraku. "He can't last," she whispered, trembling. 

_He can! You just have to believe in him!_

Her eyes widened. "Who…?"

_Let's become one, Flare. You and me, just like old times. Remember when we had to save those bakas from those villagers? Let's become one, Flare. _

Sanji felt a chill run down his spine as he looked at Flare, who had suddenly seemed to seize up and begin trembling. "Don't break down now," he whispered encouragingly. "Not after all of this. Sesshoumaru needs all the support he can get!" 

_Brave words, kid. You've done good, but now don't you think it's a good idea to let me help out a bit?_

Sanji's eyes narrowed. "What do _you want?"_

_Don't be like that, San-chan. Sesshoumaru and Flare aren't resisting – let me help out. See? The shard is already reacting. Work with me here, kid. Naraku won't know what hit him._

Shippou felt a shiver run down his spine as he watched Sanji close his eyes, shake his head slightly, then slowly stand up with a fierce look of determination on his face. An expression that looked oddly familiar, but not from Sanji…

_You're Shippou, right? _

Shippou drew in a sharp breath and looked around wildly. "Who – who are you?" 

_Can I help you? Will you let me help you? I-I need to help in this. __I need to make up to my Nee-san.  _

Naraku felt Sesshoumaru's grip lessen on his arm, and smirked. "Giving up already?" he sneered. 

And then he stopped as Sesshoumaru looked up, met his eyes, and smiled. "Hello, Naraku," Inu Yasha's voice said from his brother's mouth as he twisted the arm sharply and tore it away from the main body, shattering the youki and removing Tenseiga from Naraku's control. 

Naraku clutched at where his arm had been as he stumbled back in shock, barely missing being sliced by Tetsusaiga as Maia lunged forward. "Can't be," Naraku snarled. "What the hell is going on?!" 

Sesshoumaru/Inu Yasha tossed Tenseiga up, flipped it in the air, and slid it into its spot at Sesshoumaru's waist. The Shikon shard hanging from his ear gleamed brightly. "You didn't _really think I was going to let you get away with killing me, did you? Our friends here were kind enough, of course, to lend us the use of their bodies for the moment." _

Naraku's eyes narrowed. "Friends?"

Sanji stepped up behind Naraku, staff brought up in a fighting position that Sanji had never learned. "I missed my revenge once," he said. "You think I'll miss a second chance?"

"The houshi," hissed Naraku. He looked at Maia, and Shippou, and Flare. "All of you?" 

Flare had already pulled her hair back to keep it out of her face. She raised her hand, and the Hiraikotsu appeared out of thin air. "Because of you, I lost my husband and the chance to raise my son," Flare/Sango said. 

Shippou/Kohaku glared at Naraku. "I lost a chance at a normal life, all because _you wanted to see what you could do. You almost made me kill my own sister – and I can't forgive your attempt on my nephew's life." _

"You see, Naraku," Maia said, touching the glow near her heart, "you made a mistake. You thought we lacked the ability to stop you. Your mistake was attempting to fight us all in the same place, all at once." 

"Kagome Higurashi," Naraku snarled. 

"Wrong." 

Everybody looked at Kagome as she raised the arrow and pointed it at Naraku. "Maia-chan is the only one of us not sharing her own mind. I have returned to my true form. And we're not the only ones from your past who have come to defeat you. The strength of our allies is all around us. 

"Your evil ends now, Naraku." 

The stage was set. The characters were in place. 

The final battle had begun.  


	20. Remember Me This Way

**Inu Yasha: Future Nightmare**

**Chapter Twenty: Remember Me This Way**

"_Hiraikotsu!" _

Naraku dove out of the way of Sango's weapon as it sailed past him, just barely missing him. It sliced through a good portion of his youki before returning to its wielder's hand, and a trickle of blood slid down his face. With a snarl of irritation, he fired an energy blast in her direction. Flare's speed and agility managed to keep them from getting hit.  

"Damn it, this isn't working," Sesshoumaru hissed. "Even with your added abilities, we can still only do one thing at a time!" 

"_I know," Inu Yasha replied, "__but is there anything else we can do? If there were a way to separate us, it'd be one thing – but this is the only way we can be here!" _

Maia was getting slightly creeped out at hearing two voices coming from one mouth, but she tried not to let it faze her as she gripped Tetsusaiga tightly. "I'm open to suggestions." 

"_Kitsune bi!" Shippou's foxfire deflected another attack from Naraku as he ran over to them. "Okay, here's what I'm thinking. I'm thinking we need a plan." _

"_Okay," Miroku said from where Sanji was standing. "__Like Maia said – what?" _

There was a thoughtful expression on Shippou's face. "_What about the Shikon Shards?" Kohaku ventured hesitantly. _

Flare blinked. "You know, we completely forgot about those." 

"Can we use them?" Sanji asked. "I thought the legend was that the fifth one would appear when the other four were brought together." 

"_Are you all blind?" Kagome raised her bow and aimed an arrow at Naraku, causing him to momentarily halt his barrage of attacks. "__I can see Maia's shard easily." _

"Which Kagome is talking?" Sanji whispered to Shippou.

"Does it matter?" Shippou asked. 

"_We'll keep Naraku busy," Kagome continued. "__You focus on releasing those shards!" _

"_Kirara!" Sango snapped. "__Help her!" _

"I'm getting a headache," Maia muttered. "Okay, so what do we do?"

Kagome turned her back on the group as Kirara ran up beside her. "With the added power of my future self, this should work long enough," she whispered to herself. She aimed the arrow straight at Naraku. 

The self-proclaimed Youkai Lord had a bored look on his face. "I've had just about enough of your talking," he said. "I don't know what's going on here, but you can't possibly think you're going to defeat me in my own home." 

"_Try us!" Kagome let go of the arrow, sending it sailing in a perfect arc – aimed directly at the scar she could see on his shoulder. The scar that had been made by the first purification arrow that the future Kagome had fired at him. _

Naraku's eyes flashed red, and the arrow froze in mid-air, snapped in half, and disintegrated. "I told you," he said, laughing cruelly. "You can't defeat me in my own home." He raised his arm to aim another energy blast at her – 

-- and screamed as a bright white light exploded around them, nearly blinding them. The force of the shockwave sent Kirara stumbling into Kagome, knocking both of them to the ground. 

When the light finally died, Kagome groggily tried to figure out what had happened. 

"Are you okay?"

Kagome looked up, and found herself staring at a face that looked exactly like hers, with the exception of a couple of years of aging. "You're…!" 

Kagome-san nodded as she helped her younger self up. "What happened?" Kagome asked in confusion. "What was that huge light?" She looked around the courtyard, and gasped. 

Inu Yasha, Miroku, Sango, and Kohaku were all standing there, flesh and blood and very much real, each of them as surprised to be there as the next. Naraku had gone pale as he stared at the scene with wide eyes. 

The eeriest part, however, was what had made the light in the first place, and what had brought the dead back to life. 

The light had surrounded Flare, Sesshoumaru, Shippou, Sanji, and Maia. The five pieces of the Shikon were the cause of it – one hanging from Sesshoumaru's ear like an earring, another from a chain around Flare's ankle, the third from Sanji's belt, Shippou's on his bracelet, and the fifth and final piece hanging from Inu Maia's neck. Tetsusaiga pulsated in time with the glow from the Shikon Shards. 

"Where did you _get that?!" Naraku managed to choke out, his voice sounding strangled from rage. _

Inu Maia looked up from staring at the glowing shard around her neck. "I…" She shook her head to clear it. "Now what?" 

"Use the power of the Shikon," Sango replied. "It should enhance your normal abilities." 

Naraku growled. "You won't get the chance." He charged forward, his death youki swirling around him. 

"_Hiraikotsu!" Sango shouted, throwing the weapon towards him. It sliced through part of the youki, and a streak of blood trickled down his face, but he didn't stop his charge. He whipped his arm around and it extended, heading straight for her. _

Kohaku's scythe hit the arm and wrapped around it, keeping it in place. Kirara gripped the other end with her teeth and helped him secure it. 

"Fool!" Naraku shouted. "How dare you!" 

"How dare I _what?" Kohaku snapped. "Just think of this as revenge for what you did to __me!" _

Naraku smirked, and tendrils of his youki suddenly lashed out and snapped around Inu Yasha, Kagome-san, Miroku, Sango, and Kohaku, yanking the four of them off their feet and rendering them immobile. This also caused Kirara to lose her hold on his arm. "You're dead!" he roared. "So _stay dead!" _

"NO!" Kagome shouted, bringing up her arrow to shoot. "You can't!" 

At the same time, Kirara leapt forward, claws and teeth directed at Naraku. 

"_Kirara, no!" Sanji roared. _

Too late.

Naraku snapped his elongated arm forward like a whip faster than the demi-youkai could react. There was a sickening _crack! as it met its target. Kirara's limp body fell to the ground. _

"_KIRARA!" howled Sanji, falling to his knees. "__NO!" _

"Bastard!" shouted Sango as she struggling to free herself from the youki-web. Tears streamed down her face, but she took no notice of them. "You'll pay for that!" 

Naraku just laughed. "How? You're dead. There's nothing you can do to me." 

Miroku turned his head to look at Sanji. "Get up!" he shouted to his son. "Don't you _dare sit there and cry like a child! You were raised better than that! Are you just going to sit there and __let this monster get away with this?! Are you just going to let him kill all of you one by one? Because that's exactly what he'll do unless you get it together and __fight!" _

"Charming speech," drawled Naraku. "A little late." He whipped his arm around again, this time aiming for Sanji, who was still on the ground with his face in his hands, sobbing despite the harsh words spoken by his father. 

"Sanji!" Kagome shouted. "Move!" 

Sanji looked up at the onrushing tentacle-like arm, tears instantly dried. He was on his feet in a flash. "_KAZANAA!" he roared, releasing the seal on his Air Void. _

Naraku let out a startled gasp as his arm began to be sucked into the black hole, too close to it to avoid it. "Fool!" he shouted. "You'll draw them in as well!" 

"No," Sanji said, shaking his head. "See, Naraku – my Air Void only draws in the living, which gives it its power. You should know that – you created it! Which means that while you find a permanent place inside of it, their spirits will be left untouched, no matter how tangible their bodies are!" 

"That's my boy," Sango murmured. "Don't let him intimidate you." 

Naraku was being drawn closer and closer towards the Air Void, and the others watched with drawn breath as they waited to see what would happen. "Is Naraku really being defeated?" Shippou breathed. 

"He's using all his strength to keep Inu Yasha and the others contained," Sesshoumaru said. "He can't fight the Air Void!" 

"No!" Flare suddenly shouted. "Look!" 

Close to Naraku's shoulder, a rip began to appear in the flesh. It grew larger and larger, until there was a sickening sound of suction, and the arm came completely free of the rest of the body. It whipped into the Air Void, and Sanji was forced to close it due to exhaustion. The Shikon shard had given him more strength than normal, but it hadn't been enough. "Damn it," he cursed softly. 

"K'so," muttered Inu Yasha, echoing Sanji's sentiments. He looked at his brother. "What the hell are you waiting for? Don't worry about us – he can't harm us! Just attack him!" His ears twitched as his eyes narrowed. "Or are you too _afraid to fight him on your own?" _

Sesshoumaru's eyes flashed. "Oh, you're asking for it!" he shouted back, drawing Tenseiga from its sheath. "New plan. Flare, Shippou, divide and conquer. One left, one right, play defense. Got it?"

"Right," Flare and Shippou said simultaneously. 

"I'll use Tenseiga to cut through the youki," Sesshoumaru continued. "Its healing powers should counter the death effects. Then Maia, use Tetsusaiga to get to Naraku through the opening I create." 

"Okay," Maia said, tightening her grip on the sword. 

Sesshoumaru glanced quickly at Kagome, who was kneeling next to Sanji to check to make sure he was okay. "Ready?"

"Ready."

Naraku looked bored. "Now what?"

"Go!" 

Flare and Shippou ran to the sides of Naraku, drawing his youki tentacles away from Sesshoumaru and Maia. "_Kitsune bi!" shouted Shippou, his foxfire flaring up to proportions he hadn't known existed and completely engulfing one of the tentacles. Flare's claws glistened as she moved faster than before, her Shikon shard making it possible for her to dodge Naraku easily. _

Sesshoumaru saw his chance the moment Naraku turned his head away to focus on the other two. He shot forward, Tenseiga out, and sliced cleanly through the youki holding Miroku. It flickered and vanished, and Miroku hit the ground with a loud _thud!. Sesshoumaru didn't wait to see if he was okay – he was breathing, which mattered. He cut a tunnel through the youki, getting closer to Naraku._

Naraku let a pain-filled scream as blood trickled down his face and his arms from the damage Sesshoumaru was inflicting. 

Kohaku was freed. Then Sango, and Kagome-san. 

Shippou ran to them to help get them out of the way. 

"Shippou, _look out!" Kagome screamed. _

The kitsune froze and looked up to see a huge tentacle hurtle towards him. 

Kohaku was on his feet and throwing himself in front of Shippou in an instant. The tentacle slammed through his chest, just barely stopping before hitting Shippou as well. 

Shippou stared numbly at the Taijiyra in shock. "Ko…ha…ku," he whispered numbly.

Kohaku turned to look at Shippou, pain evident in his eyes but nowhere else. "I'm already dead," he whispered, blood trickling from his mouth as he spoke. "This is all I can do." Behind them, Sango was screaming her brother's name. "Shippou, you have to get Kagome-chan back to her time. Use the Shikon. It's power rests with the five of you." 

Shippou watched in stunned amazement and horror as Kohaku began to glow with the same light that shone from the Shikon no Tama, and then he faded away into nothingness. 

Naraku began to laugh. "I understand now," he crowed. "The power of Shikon no Tama isn't in the shards, but the spirits of the shards! _That explains everything!" _

Sesshoumaru looked at his brother. "What the hell is he talking about?"

Inu Yasha stood up from where he'd fallen after his tentacle had been broken. "When the five of us died, our souls became one with the Shikon no Tama," he said softly. "That's why we were solidified when the shards were brought together." 

"You mean…_you're the Shikon no Tama?" Flare gasped. _

Inu Yasha looked at Kagome-san, Miroku, and Sango. "It's time." 

They began to glow, became as transparent as when Inu Yasha had been just a spirit. 

"No!" Maia shouted. 

Naraku stopped laughing. "What the hell are you doing?" 

Inu Yasha's eyes flashed. "Defeating you, once and for all!" he shouted. "Sesshoumaru, Shippou, Sanji, Flare! Your shards, hurry! Bring them together with Maia's!" 

The four of them ran to stand beside Maia, each of them holding their respecting shards, bringing them up to Maia's. The fifth shard began to glow and pulsate, the other four soon matching pace. 

The four spirits began to flicker in tandem with the shards. Naraku let out a snarl and lashed out with his  youki, but it had been badly depleted by Sesshoumaru's attack with Tenseiga. And it was further damaged when Kagome suddenly let loose with a purity arrow, slicing into it and embedded itself in Naraku's shoulder, right where the original wound had been. Naraku's eyes widened as he found himself unable to move. 

The light was so bright, it was almost impossible to make anything out. But Maia could see when her father turned to look at her, just barely visible to her eyes. "_Maia," he said, his voice once again a spirit's whisper. "__Use the Tetsusaiga. With the added power of the Shikon, it will be strong enough." _

And then the light seemed to explode and fade almost instantly. 

Sesshoumaru, Shippou, Sanji, and Flare fell to their knees thoroughly exhausted. The four spirits were gone.

And Maia stood there, Tetsusaiga held ready, the completed Shikon no Tama hanging from around her neck. 

Naraku trembled as he stared at the young half-hanyou. 

"Naraku," Maia growled, "for what you did to my family – DIE!" She lunged towards him, and fired the Tetsusaiga's ultimate attack, and Naraku's death sentence. "_BAKORYOUHA!" _

Turning Naraku's own youki against him, the sword's power sliced through him. There was a bright flash of light – it was really amazing that they hadn't gone blind yet – and when the power haze cleared and they were able to see, they were met with a shocking sight.

Maia was behind Naraku, Tetsusaiga on the ground. And Naraku was still standing.

"It…didn't work?" whispered Sanji. 

"No!" Flare suddenly shouted. "Look!" 

Black blood began to seep out of Naraku in perfect lines, as if something so sharp had cut through him that he hadn't had time to fall to pieces. He stared at them with stunned eyes. "But…how?" he whispered, his voice muffled by the blood welling up in his mouth. "A hanyou?"

And then he disintegrated, leaving behind only a puddle of youkai blood. 

Everything grew quiet as they stood there. "How?" Shippou whispered. "Inu Yasha used the Bakeryouha on Naraku before and it didn't work." 

Sesshoumaru looked at Inu Maia, who was walking towards them. "Maia didn't just use the Bakeryouha," he said, his eyes fixed on the Shikon no Tama hanging from around her neck. "She used the Shikon as well." 

Kagome ran up to them then. "You did it!" she shouted. "You defeated Naraku!" 

Maia nodded tiredly. "But at what price?" she murmured. "We lost so much." 

Shippou bit his lip. "Do we know for sure that he's gone?" he asked. "Remember what happened last time?" 

Sanji just grinned and held up his hand. 

His right hand. 

And all that was visible was a light scar where the Air Void had once been. "He's gone," he said. "This time, he's really gone." 

They stood there quietly, thinking, for a few minutes. Then all at once, they all started laughing and crying and cheering and hugging, completely caught up with elation over their unexpected victory against an enemy none of them had really believed they would defeat. "Wait until we tell the others," Flare said, squeezing Sesshoumaru 's arm happily. 

"Speaking of the others, let's go right now," Sanji said. "I want to make sure Kohaku and Diana are okay." 

"Kouga and Teiya, too," Shippou agreed. 

Sesshoumaru looked at Flare. "Can you take us home?" he asked.

She looked a little weary. "Give me a couple of minutes, and then yeah." 

Maia looked at Kagome happily. "Thanks," she said. "You really helped us out." 

Kagome gave her a huge hug. "Anytime," she replied softly. 

_Every now and then_

_We find a special friend_

_Who never lets us down_

And then the courtyard began to shake. 

"What's going on?" Sanji shouted as the ground began to split under their feet. Huge vine-like whips broke through the walls of the castle, grabbing pieces of stone and breaking them apart. The ground itself seemed to tilt at an alarming angle, throwing everyone off balance. 

"It's Naraku's magic!" Shippou suddenly realized. "Without his magic, this castle won't stay afloat! It's coming apart!"  

A huge crack formed beside Maia, and the young hanyou jerked back dangerously, losing her footing and falling through the crack. Kagome lunged forward and grabbed her arm, lying on her stomach to get a better grip. "Hang on, Maia!"  __

_Who understands it all_

_Reaches out each time we fall_

_You're the best friend that I found_

Maia scrambled to get a better hold, but there was nothing below her feet but sky. Kagome glanced over shoulder and saw that Flare had gotten the portal up, but was having troubling maintaining it. "Maia!" she shouted down to her. "Try to climb up my arm! You have to get to that portal!" 

"I'll pull you over!" Maia protested. "I'm too heavy! You can make it to the portal, Kagome." 

"I'm not letting you go," Kagome growled. 

"But you're too important!" Maia looked up at the past's version of her mother, and saw the determined look in her eyes. All around, the castle was crumbling, and Kagome was beginning to lose her hold on the main structure as well. Maia could hear her uncle and Shippou, but they'd been thrown too far to help. "Kagome, _let go!"_

"NO!" Kagome shouted. 

Maia clenched her fist tightly…and felt the smooth surface of the Shikon no Tama. 

_I know you can't stay _

_But part of you will never ever go away_

_Your heart will stay_

The ground shook again, and Kagome was thrown forward over the edge. She threw out her free arm and hooked it over the edge, stopping herself from falling any further. She looked at the others, and saw that Sanji had created an anchor with his staff and was edging towards them as Sesshoumaru all but threw Shippou through Flare's portal. 

Then Kagome looked down at Maia, and her eyes widened when she saw the other girl open the palm of _her free hand and look down at the glowing Shikon no Tama. _

"No, Maia!" Kagome shouted, her voice raw. "Don't do it! Sanji's coming, Maia, he'll get us out! I don't want to go back yet! _MAIA, DON'T!" _

Maia lifted the jewel, whispered something quietly to it, and swallowed it whole just as Sanji threw himself on the ground next to Kagome and reached for Maia's other arm.__

Kagome felt her vision begin to dim, as everything seemed to fade away.

_I'll make a wish for you_

_And hope it will come true_

_That life will just be kind_

_To such a gentle mind_

"_Send Kagome home. Send her back to where she belongs." _

_"MAIA, DON'T! NO!" _

_If you lose your way_

_Think back on yesterday_

_Remember me this way_

_Remember me this way _

"NO!" Kagome sat up and threw out her arm in an attempt to stop Maia. 

"OW!" a voice cried out in pain. "Damn it, onna, that _hurt! What's the big idea?!"_

Kagome blinked and looked towards the voice. A pair of angry golden eyes glared at her. "Inu…Ya…sha?" she whispered hesitantly. 

"Who _else would I be?" Inu Yasha grumbled. _

Kagome looked around her surroundings, and her eyes widened when she saw that she was in her room. _Her room. Not some torn apart future version, but her own room, totally intact and the way she had left it. "I'm…home?" she whispered. "I'm back?" _

"What are you mumbling about?" Inu Yasha rolled his eyes and stood up from where he'd been kneeling next to her bed. "Everyone's waiting for us on the other side of the well. I just came to get you. We've still got some more shards to look for, and Naraku to deal with, too." 

_Naraku. Kagome looked down at her hands silently. __Was that…all just a dream? It doesn't seem like much time has gone by since I fell asleep._

"Kagome?" She looked at Inu Yasha, startled by the change in his voice. "Are you okay?" 

Kagome suddenly threw herself at him, wrapping her arms around him and giving his a quick kiss on the cheek, and causing him to blush fiercely. "I'm fine," she said happily. "Everything's fine. Let's go. We've got a job to do, Inu Yasha." __

_I don't need eyes to see_

_The love you bring to me_

_No matter where I go_

_And I know that you'll be there_

_Forevermore a part of me, you're everywhere_

_I'll always care_

_I'll make a wish for you_

_And hope it will come true_

_That life will just be kind_

_To such a gentle mind_

_If you lose your way_

_Think back on yesterday_

_Remember me this way_

_Remember me this way_

_And I'll be right behind your shoulder_

_Watching you_

_I'll be standing by your side in all you do_

_And I won't ever leave_

_As long as you believe_

_You just believe_

_I'll make a wish for you_

_And hope it will come true_

_That life will just be kind_

_To such a gentle mind_

_And if you lose your way_

_Think back on yesterday_

_Remember me this way_

_Remember me this way_

Kagome paused just before she followed Inu Yasha through the well, and looked up at the night sky. "Maia," she whispered. "I don't know if you were a dream or not. But I won't let you down. And I won't ever forget. I promise." __

_This way_

**OWARI**


	21. Coming Up

Inu Yasha: Future Nightmare

**Author's Note**

It's over.

After nine months of frustration, laughter, and joy (although I must admit, sometimes there was more of the first and less of the last), _Future Nightmare_ has come to a close. I almost wish it hadn't, but I can't argue with the plot. Once Kagome returns home, _FN_ is at the end of its lifespan. 

And judging from how well I've gotten to know the reactions of my readers, you're probably all ready to throw rotten fruit and get out the flamethrowers after reading the ending of Chapter 20. ^_^;; I know I would be if I got to end of such a long story (although it's not my longest – _The Quietus Conflict_ still holds that position with 49 chapters), and discovered that the author left so many loose ends. 

I apologize for that, and let me explain it. 

_Future Nightmare_ is only the first story in a series of stories that I'm planning, with the help of two of my friends, for the Inu Yasha series. It served as an introduction to the purpose of those following it, and also as a way to test out some original characters (namely, Flare Takira and Teiya Renee). As a result, I never intended on giving the future characters any sort of ending – I'll leave it up to you, the readers, to fill in the blanks if you wish. Whether or not the future will play a part in the next stories, aside from flashbacks from Kagome and the occasional reference, is unknown. It may or may not happen. 

Now, normally here I'd put in a line about how I have a sequel planned, but I won't post it until I get a certain number of reviews. Screw that. Because you guys were faithful enough to stick with me and give me _100_ reviews (making _Future Nightmare_ currently the best read of all my stories), there will _definitely_ be a sequel. I can't say when it'll be out, as I'm still working out some kinks in the story line, but I'm shooting for an opening at the beginning of the 2003, either the week of or the week after January 1. _Inu Yasha: Dreams of Reality_ will follow the line of Inu Yasah-gumi as they seek to destroy Naraku one final time in the past. The catch? At the same time, Kagome isn't entirely if her trip to the future was real, or if it was just a dream, and as a result risks messing up the timelines in ways she can't even _begin_ to comprehend. 

I know, I'm evil. ^_^ 

As a closing note, I'd like to thank my friends Sadamaiyuka (and if you read this, you _really_ need to tell me what your FF.Net name is!) and Renee Ri for giving me so many ideas and so much support as I was writing this. But don't think you're finished yet. ^_^ 

I'd also like to a quick disclaimer: Inu Maia, Sanji, Diana, Kohaku, and Flare Takira are all mine. Teiya Renee belongs to Renee Ri. Everyone else is the property of the creators of Inu Yasha (all names escape me at the time). 

Opening Theme: 'Everywhere' © Michelle Branch

Ending Theme: 'Remember Me This Way' © Jordan Hill

Thank you for reading _Future Nightmare_, and I look forward to seeing you again when _Dreams of Reality_ is posted. 

~ Aynslesa Morro Wolf, Astral Productions


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